Rattler Romance
by skateboard
Summary: Sofia is a rattler with a past she can't forget, but wishes she could. She came to the town of Dirt to escape her past, but never expected to meet up with it. Rattlesnake Jake/OC I only own 'sofia' everyone else belongs to Gore Verbinski  first fanfic
1. Chapter 1

Rattlers Romance

It was another scorching day in the town of Dirt; the local saloon was filled with critters trying to cool themselves off with a shot of cactus juice. Across the street in the tailor shop Sofia sat behind the counter sowing the final touches on a dress. It was days like these that made Sofia remember her childhood, the days where she used to play with her good friend Jacob Rattler. The two were like peas in a pod, wherever Sofia went Jacob was sure to follow. She had had strong feelings for him when they were teenagers, he was such a strong looking snake with eyes like shone a deep gold like the sunset. Sofia peered up at the old wooden ceiling trying to recall the moment their friendship had ended. The memory refused to surface, the harder she tried to force out into the open the more it buried itself deeper into her subconscious. '_How many years has it been since I last saw his face_' Sofia pondered to herself.

The sound of the store door opening startled her, "Hello there Sofia, just wonderin' if yer all finished with ma new outfit?" croaked Cordillera, the toad that worked in the saloon across the street. "Almost done Cord, so how are things in the Saloon? Any fights break out yet?" Sofia chuckled to herself, there were two things that were a given in the town of Dirt; one Rango always started trouble accidentally and two there was always some sort of fight in the saloon. Cordillera looked at Sofia and gave a boring huff.

"There aint' no fight in the saloon today, its too gosh darn hot for many of that horsing around". Sofia raised an inquisitive scale, "really well that's a first,"

"I know, aint' nothing interestin' been happenin' in the saloon on a count of the heat".

"Well cheer up Cordillera, I just finished the final touches on your dress." Sofia bit off the piece of thread that attracted the needle to the dress.

"There what do you think?" Cordillera shifted her eyes away from the floorboards and fixed them on the garment she had ordered. Her eyes widened in excitement, the dress was beautiful. The red and gold silk mimicked the sunset and the white lace around the bosom complimented the toads skin tone.

"Oh ma word, I do believe this is the most beautiful garment I ever did see! You have quite a talent there missy!" Cordillera winked and rustled through her pouch for the water she owed.

"There ye'are two and a half quarts." The toad placed the vials of water gingerly into the snake's coils. Sofia smiled and placed the dress in a small paper bag before handing it over to Cordillera. They said their good-byes and the toad left the store, once again leaving Sofia to drift back to those summer days spent with her childhood friend.

It had been six months since Sofia had slithered into Dirt and she had already made several friends. The closest were Priscilla, who just wondered in and out of the shop when she pleased, Beans, whom she had became real close too, and Rango, whom she considered like a younger cousin. She got along with all the towns folk, except for Angelique. The tart of a fox had made her life rather unpleasant since she moved to Dirt. Always walking into the shop and commenting on the clothes and the lack of fashion that was in them. Angelique was the only one who got under Sofia's scaled and really caused her great frustration. However due to the extreme heat, Angelique had no come into the shop which caused Sofia great happiness.

Another ring of at the door caused Sofia to wake from her daydream, she glanced over the counter to see Pricilla nearly on the brink of collapse.

" Goodness Pricilla, what on earth! Here have some water!" Sofia pushed the tall glass across the counter towards the panting girl. Pricilla grabbed the glass and took several giant gulps before placing it back on the counter.

"Sofia I came to warn you, Rattlesnake Jake is coming to town. You better be carful, he's a mean varmint and he'll hurt you if he gets the chance! " Sofia smiled at the young child.

"Now Pricilla what makes you think that I would be in any immediate danger if Rattlesnake Jake were coming to town?" Sofia said softly while she poured another glass of water for her parched friend and slid a stool over for the girl to sit. The youngster climbed up onto the stool and made her self comfortable.

"Well you ARE a pretty girl-rattler…" the young girl roller her eyes up at the female snake. Sofia was taken aback by the girl's forwardness, for a few moments she just looked at the child. Then threw her head back and began to let out a huge laugh.

"Oh you are too precious, don't worry about me kiddo I can take care of myself." The snake said nudging the sweating glass of water closer to the youngster. Pricilla looked up once more at Sofia and sighed; of course Sofia would be safe, she's a snake after all, smiling to herself she lifted the glass to her lips. Just as the rim of the glass grassed her lips, a bloodcurdling cry came from outside the store.

"Aieeeeee, its Rattlesnake Jake! Some one get the sheriff!" a town's person yelled. Pricilla leapt of her stool and made her way to the door only to be blocked my Sofia's long body.

"You stay here and don't you go out side sweetie. I'm going to go and see then rattler for myself." And with that statement, Sofia slithered out the door and slammed it shut before Pricilla could say a word. Out side was total pandemonium, critters rushing in and out of buildings trying to keep close to doors and windows so see what was going on, but to be safe if anything happened. Sofia slowly slithered out onto the street and saw the creature that was causing all of the panic. He was meaning looking all right, dark brown scales, gun belts that were strapped around his upper body and the hat that hid his eyes and his gun tail. Sofia gulped and slowly slithered backwards towards her store, but the larger snakes tail and lower body blocked her path.

"Well, well, well what do we have here? Hello littl' darlin'" he said in a low hiss which caused a cold shiver to crawls up Sofia's spin. She tilted her head downwards at dusty ground but was immediately brought back up towards Jake's face.

"I like it when people look into my eyes." He growled out and flicked is tongue towards her.

"Don't you dare touch me with that filthy thing you despicable creature" Sofia spat out in an angry hiss. Jake simply gave her a dark smirk and pulled her closer in.

"Let me see thoughts eyes of yours," he hissed in her ear as he forced her head up with his gun-tail. Sofia's eyes met his and she immediately recognized him, he was the boy she grew up with, the same golden eyes she has known as a child but now they were stained with reds and oranges.

"J-J-Jacob? Jacob Rattler?" Sofia whispered huskily, Jake's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Without delay he released her from his coils and took several slithers back, looking her over top to bottom. _'She's has grown up I almost didn't recognize her. Gotten more beautiful, hell much more beautiful then I remember. Slender body, soft brown scales, small-wedged head, and her eyes! Like two giant pools of soft warm chocolate.'_

"It's me Sofia, Sofia Silverback, remember from Hisspen Gulch? We grew up together, our homes were right beside each other…" the sound of her voice broke Jake's concentration.

" Ya I remember, I also remember leaving that god for saken hell pit as fast as possible. Weren't nothin' but nobodies in that town." Jake said in a dark chuckle while he slithered closer to her, "But you have gotten more pretty since the last I saw you. Yer all grown up now…" he whispered to her, causing her to jerk away and let out an aggressive hiss.

"No need to get testy darlin' am just 'ere to see yer sheriff…"

" He isn't in right now, so why don't you leave." Sofia shifted her body so that she was in between the towns people and Jake. She reared up into a striking position and glared down at Jake.

"I don't come into town and leave empty handed." He sneered and approached her boldly, which jeered another aggressive hiss from her curled lips, this time she showed off her razor sharp fangs.

"Well I'm afraid this time you are… now get going before I sink my fangs into your back!"

"You wouldn't"

"Do _you _want to find out" once again she hissed but this time she struck, missing Jake's side by inches. Jake swerved out of the way and looked back at Sofia, his heart almost skipping a beat, almost. The sun was at her back causing her facial features to become softer and make her look even more attractive. Jake peered at her from behind the rim of his hat and slowly slithered towards her, stopping just within whispering distance.

"I'll leave this time, but next time I'll be leavin' with somethin' more valuable," he said in a very seductive voice, which caused something warm to stir inside Sofia's heart. And as fast as he came, Rattlesnake Jake was gone, dispreading back into the desert. With a heavy sigh of relief, Sofia uncoiled her body and slowly relaxed onto the hot soil. The town's people also sighed in relief and rushed over to thank Sofia for driving away the bandit. Sofia accepted their thanks, but all the while looking out of the corner of her eye, she knew that this wasn't the last time she was going to see Rattlesnake Jake.


	2. Chapter 2

Rango and Beans came riding into town later that evening. They had been out all day making changes and reinforcing the pipeline that carried their precious water to the town. It had been a long day for them; the work was hard and slow. Slower still due to the fact that Beans was laden with child, she couldn't work as hard as she used too and this put a huge dent in their schedule. The pipes needed to be replaced soon; they were rusting and falling apart. The only thing that could be done at this point was to reinforce them with wooden beams to keep them from falling over.

Today's progress on the pipes was successful but very tiring and the only thing that was on Rango's mind was sleep. He got off his roadrunner and then went around to help Bean's off of hers.

"You alright there dear?" Rango gave a concerned glance up to Beans, she hadn't been feeling too well since late last night be she had assured him that she was well enough to work today.

"Am fine, it's just a small pain in ma side. I get it when I ride too long." She gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek. "But thank you for the concern Sheriff Rango,"

"Anytime Mrs. Sheriff Rango," he tipped his hat slightly and wrapped his arm around his wife growing belly. As they started towards the jailhouse, Waffles came tearing up the boardwalk towards them.

"Sheriff, sheriff, I gotta tell yer somethin' it's improtiant!" Waffles wheezed out with his hands on his knees.

"Now calm down Waffles and tell me what yer trying to say," Rango placed a reassuring hand on his friends shoulder.

"It's Sofia, she scared off Rattlesnake Jake earlier today, it was quite somethin' to see," Waffles smile grew to show off his missing teeth. Rango looked at the horned lizard with confusion in his eyes. He then promptly turned back Beans and gave her a sympathetic smile, which meant he wasn't going to be able to walk her the rest of the way back to the house. She, in return, gave her husband a sweet smile and insisted that he go take care of business.

"Sofia you in 'ere?" Rango knocked on the large door of the tailor shop.

"Coming sheriff," Sofia glided out of the store and curled up in front of the door, her head level with Rango.

"Now I hear that you scared off Jake today, is that true?"

"Yes sheriff, it's true," Sofia dipped her eyes downward in shame.

"Now that was a mighty brave think you done right there, and I thank you for it." Rango said with a heart-warming smile. However, Sofia could sense a 'but' coming. "But, ye see I invited him to town. I need his help in fixin' the main pipe that brings the water in from the desert." A blush of embarrassment slowly creep up Sofia's scales, she couldn't believe it.

"I'm so sorry sheriff, I didn't know I'm—" Rango raised his hand and smiled,

"It's alright girl, I have to admit it's quite a funny tale. A woman scaring off a bandit, and not just any bandit at that." He said with a chuckle. "Now all I need to do is wait for that old rattler to show his face again, which, I reckon, won't be too long." Rango said as he looked out into the desert. '_Yup he is sure to come back, I know it. Especially since there is a certain someone who seems to peak his interests '_ the sheriff silently thought to himself.

* * *

><p>The night came on quick and outside only the lonely howls of coyotes could be heard in blackness. The night always made Sofia tense; it brought shivers to her spin. She would never admit it aloud, but deep down she was terrified of the desert night. For her, the night brought nothing but death and destruction. The stars were a cruel reminder of her past that she could never fully face. Alone curled up in her bed she dreamed of that faithful night. The dream always started the same way…<p>

' _The stars shine brightly in the black desert night; the songs of owls and coyotes filled the night air. The desert flowers bloomed releasing a sweet fragrance for all to enjoy. It is a calm night like any other; she was curled up in her bedroom, which was adjacent to her parents. Everyone in Hisspen Gulch is tucked in for the night. Then a loud crash, followed by the smell of blood mixed in with fire. She awakes with a terrible fright, rushed to the window to find the entire town, her home, under attack. The invaders are silent until they strike, and let out a spine-chilling screech, which is mixed with their victim's own howl for help then, once again, silence. Horrified she rushed to her parent's room, than another loud crash followed by the screams of both her parent's then nothing. Slowly she approaches the door of their room and peers in. A tall creature with giant wings and huge claws is standing over her parent's bed. She can't see his face, and she never will, she can only hear his voice. Its low and husky, he is muttering something but she can't make out what it is. She looks over to where her parents usually are, but there is nothing but a faint trail of blood leading up to the huge hole in the roof. _

"_It's not in this house EITHER!" the creature thrusts his talons into her parent's bed and throws is across the room. A younger creature ducks as the bed goes flying, he crawls towards the giant and slowly raises, his head always dipped in submission._

"_I'm sorry General, but the men can't seem to find it anywhere…"  
>"WHAT!" another slash of his talons and he pins down the younger one "you better find it or I'll rip your gizzard out and feed it to you, understand sergeant!"<em>

"_Yes General Ferruginous!" he released the sergeant who got up quickly._

"_Now assemble the troops we're leaving this miserable town, I want no evidence that we were here. You got that!" _

"_Yes General, n-n-no evidence sir, none will be left, I can promise you that any evidence left will b—"_

"_Quite yer bellyaching and get going before I change my mind," the general snapped_

"_Yes sir!" the sergeant saluted the general and flew right out of the hole in the roof. Huddling close to the doorframe, she slowly begins to move away, hoping that the monster doesn't hear her. Suddenly the creature raises its head, her heart stops, she stands perfectly still._

"_Well, well, well, it seems like I've missed one. I must be getting old. Why don't you come out desert flower?" the creature chuckles, and slowly turns around, but she is already racing down the stairs as fast as her coils can carry her._

"_You can run but you can't hide!" the monster hollers and crashed through what is left of her home. _

_She makes it outside and sees the true nature of the destruction. Homes crashed open and on fire, the screams and death cries of her neighbors, her friends, the sands streaked with blood. _

_ "Found you, my desert flower!" the creature yells, as she turns around to see his talons lunge for her…_

"NO!" Sofia shouted as she sat up in her bed, quickly she looked around the room, and then rushed to the window. With a shaky sigh she fell down on the cool floorboards.

"It's ok, it was just a dream, you're safe," she told herself, it was still a whole half an hour before she could bring herself back to bed. She was still covered in a thin layer of sweat, but she didn't care. She pulled the covers up to her face and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The sun rose over the town of Dirt, the giant clock struck eight and rang out. The town began to wake up with shop owner already switching their signs from 'closed' to 'open' and was sweeping the floors. Sofia awoke groggily, yawning and rubbing her eyes with her tail. She slowly slithered out of bed and made her way the kitchen. _'Need coffee, the cup of life,'_ she muttered to herself as she took the pot, filled it with cactus juice and placed it on the burner to heat up.

"Confound it, where did I put those beans?" she huffed out as she clumsily searched through her cupboards for the elusive beans.

"Sofia you in there?" a voice came from the backdoor,

"Yeah come on in who ever you are," she managed to say in a rather horse voice. "Aha, there you are you miserable little—"

"Hi,"

"Wahh," 'thud' "Ow…" the little voice had startled her causing the can of coffee to land on her tail. Sofia turned around and was immediately confronted with a pair of amber eyes.

"Good morning Sofia,"

"It isn't morning till I've has my coffee, but hello to you too Pricilla,"

"I just came to tell you that the sheriff is holdin' a town meetin' at town hall—"

"That's nice, not shhh, Mr. coffee need to concentrate"

"And he want _everyone_ to be there right now"

"Right"

"As in this instant"

"Uh-huh,"

"Your not followin' me are you…"

"Did you say somethin'?"

"Come on y'old rattlesnake" Pricilla grabbed Sofia's tail and began to pull her to the back door.

"Wait, no nooooo, Mr. Coffee almost ready…" she whined as the child pulled her out on to the street and pushed her in the direction of town hall.

The town hall was an older building; in fact it was the oldest building in the town of Dirt. It had belonged to the mayor of Dirt, but after his 'untimely demise', as the towns people put it, the building was gutted and converted into the town hall. The walls were rough but very welcoming. There were chairs lined up on either side of the massive room, with a walk way right down the middle. In the front was a large stage with a podium where Rango nervously stood.

"Come on Sofia, ya don't wanna miss the sheriff big important speech," Pricilla grunted out as she pushed the weary snake into the building.

"Coffee, me need now…" Sofia managed to say between mumbles,

"Wow you were right, ya're sure not a mornin' person," the youngster said with a huff as she lay her friend on a couple of chairs in the back row. Using one of the chairs to prop her head up.

Rango looked at the crowed that had gathered in the hall, he could feel the sweat begin to trickle down his brow. He hoped that the towns people would be as thrilled about his idea as he was.

"Ma fellow towns people, as you know we've has a tiny problem with the water. Ok maybe a big problem, but there is no need to panic because I have hired some help."

"You mean the gofers,"

"Uh, no think a little bigger,"

"Cayotes?"

"Not that big, I've procured the help of one Rattlesnake Jake to aid us in our hydration problem." The entire hall went silent except for Sofia's snoring nobody said a word.

"Are you out of yer mind sheriff!"

"Ya there aint no way we can relay on that there varmint,"

"He's a stone cold killer!"

"Think of the children!"

"Alright now just everyone settle down, I've spoken with Mr. Jake and he's promised not to harm anyone. Now look we need his help, he's the only one who is able to lift the new pipe into place, and there may be a clog as well and if there is then we're gonna need his help in findin' it. Now I most of you are a little worried about havin' a gun slinger in town,"

"A LITTLE!"

"Ok a lot, but I've acquired some help in dealing with this varmint," Rango said as he jumped of the stage and strutted towards the end of the hall.

"This person is responsible, polite, and very capable of handlin' Mr. Jake," Rango stopped in fort of the last row where Pricilla and Sofia were seated. The towns people looked back in astonishment and disbelief.

"You're puttin' Pricilla in charge of Rattlesnake Jake?"

"Yes… what no, am puttin' Ms. Silverback in charge of him," the towns people released a sigh of relief.

"That is if she'll take the job. Ms. Silverback are you willin' to accept the huge responsibility of keeping a watchful eye over Rattlesnake Jake?" Rango asked the groggy snake.

"If I say yes, will you let me have my coffee?"

"Yes,"

"Fine I'll take the job," Sofia huffed out, and the towns people cheered and congratulated Sofia as they made their way to the door. Sofia tuned a lazy eye down to Pricilla,

"Did I just agree to something that I'm going to regret later on?"

"Most likely,"

* * *

><p>"Sheriff Rango!" the sound came roaring up from outside the Sheriff's office, causing Rango to fall from his seat. He rushed to the door where he came face to face with a very angry female rattler.<p>

"Of all the low down, sneaky—"

"Ah Sofia I see you've had your morning coffee,"

"Your damned right I did, and guess what, I just found out I'm the proud babysitter of the most feared gunslinger this side of the Pecos!" Sofia yelled.

"Now calm down there Sof, no need to get your coils in a bunch," Rango carefully said as he positioned himself behind his desk,

"How can I be calm? You just signed my up for prison duty!"

"You know when the light hit you at this angle you look very pretty,"

"Don't try and sweet talk me sheriff! If I wanted to be sweet-talked I'd go and find myself a male-harlot! I came here to discuses the arrangement that I did not agree on!"

"But you _did_ agree to the arrangement…" the sheriff gingerly pointed out. The small comment made Sofia even hotter under the collar.

"You took advantage of me! You know I can't make decision with out my morning coffee, you could have asked me to go and marry Waffles and I would have said yes!" Sofia spat out,

"Did someone say ma name?" Waffles poked his head into the Sheriff's office.

"NO!" both Sofia and Rango yelled back at him, causing Waffles to run off.

"This is because I scared him off yesterday isn't it, how could you do this to me sheriff? I have a store to run orders that need to be filled out. What am I supposed to do, sow dresses while watching over the trigger happy gunslinger?"

"Now look here, this has nothin' to do with you protectin' the town yesterday" Sofia cocked an eye at Rango.

"Ok the two event may be related…"

"I knew it!" Sofia lowered her head tossing herself to the side nearest the door.

"No it's not a punishment, think of it as a… promotion," Sofia turned back with a confused look on her face.

"From seamstress to prison warrant, oh ya some promotion all right!" she said sarcastically and gave out a puff of disappointment placing her tail over her eyes. Rango came out from behind the desk and slowly approached the snake. He placed an encouraging hand on her neck and sat down beside her.

"Sofia look at all the people out there in the town, they need that water. It's the only way any of us can make it. The pipes have to be fixed before the dry season really starts or else everything is going to become a giant dust bowl." Rango let out a sign and looked up at Sofia. The rattler had removed her tail from her eyes and was looking at the town and for a while they just sat there looking at the town. Finally Sofia rose up, removed herself from the office and faced Rango.

"Alright sheriff, I'll take the job,"

"Wonderful I knew we could count on yo—" Sofia raised her tail in front of Rango and continued to talk.

"But, in return for my help you have to promise me that you will never EVER volunteer for any more of your ridiculous ideas again. Promise?" Sofia stuck out her tail, Rango sighed and with a smile grasped the rattlers tail gently and shock

"Promise,"

"Good now when in the trigger happy gunslinger making his way back into town?" Sofia said as she pulled her tail to her head and starched it looking to the left the to the right of her.

"Um, well you see—" Rango's expression when from happy to nervous.

"What… he's right behind me isn't he?" she mouthed out as she turned around. _'I stand corrected'_ she thought as soon as she saw the bright yellow-red eyes glisten down at her from behind a dark hat.

"Boo…" Jake smirked as he came closer to her. Sofia merely rolled her eyes and went next to the sheriff.

"Jake it's good to see you again," Rango extended his hand but was meet with a cool stare instead. Slowly he retracted his hand and continued on with his speech.

"On behalf of the town of Dirt I would personally like to thank you for agreeing to help us in our time of—"

"What's she doin' 'ere sheriff?" Jake thrusted his head towards Sofia who was beginning to become little agitated with his rudeness.

"Huh, ah yes. Ya see Jake, Sofia is going to be well keeping an eye on you during your stay here in Dirt."

"Yer tellin' me that this lil' woman is goin' to be keepin' an eye on me?"

"That's the general idea," Rango said and let out a small smile. Jake looked at Rango then at Sofia then back to Rango and began to laugh.

"Hahaha, yer tellin' me that this 'ere lil' mouse of a girl is gonna be ma personal babysitter, oh that's too good Rango even for you, oh hahahah,"

"_Your calm cool collected, calm cool collected, calm cool collected"_ Sofia whispered to herself as she watched her childhood friend nearly bust a gut from laughing too much.

"Ohhh that's too much… now seriously what is she doin' 'ere?"

"Well like I told you, she's gonna be keep—"

"Now really sheriff you expect me to believe that this _girl_ is actually in charge of keepin' _me_ in line?" Jake turned from Rango and looked Sofia directly in the eye,

"Hell it doesn't look like you could take care of a mouse lil' darlin'" Jake said with a chuckle as he came in closer to her. _"I'm calm cool colle— fuck it!"_ Sofia reared up so that she was a couple of inches above the outlaw and then proceeded to bring her face mere inches from his.

"Now listen here you back water sea slug, I've been put in charge of you against my will and I'm not exactly thrilled with the situation either! In fact I'm against it one hundred percent! I'm doing this as a favor to Rango and the citizens of Dirt, so don't you be going around and mouthing off that a mere _girl_ can't keep you in line. If memory serves correctly I ran you out of this town yesterday and I sure as hell can do it again if I want to, so don't be pressing your luck!" Sofia hollered out at the top of her lungs, all the while the inhabitants looking on slacked jawed that the young girl would take on such a powerful opponent. When all was said and done Sofia backed away from the stunted serpent and took her place along side the equally stunned sheriff.

"W-w-well then, now that that finished how's about we all go to the saloon for a drink. First rounds on me,"

"I don't drink with convicts," Sofia hissed out as she turned around and glided back to her store.

"Jake y'ok?" Rango looked up at the rattler who still hadn't moved a muscle.

"I remember her being a little bit more…docile," Jake breathed out, and slithered over to the saloon. Leaving the sheriff scratching his head in confusion.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day was uneventful; Jake mostly kept to himself in the dark corner of the saloon. Occasionally looking at the towns people from beneath the rim of his hat. It was obvious that they were frightened of him, as soon as he moved a coil they flinched. The only one who didn't seem to mind him was that small girl whom he'd meet six months ago. Her eyes barely made it over the edge of the table; she reached for the closest chair and scooted it right up to the table.

"Never expected to see you in this town again Mr. Rattlesnake Jake sir," Pricilla cautiously said as she reached over the table and gently grasped the bottle of cactus juice that stood near the convict.

"It anit right for youngyins to be drinkin' this," Jake hissed lightly as moved his tail above the table and slide the bottle back to it original position. The towns people looked on in fear and curiosity, they had never seen Rattlesnake Jake interact with anyone before. Pricilla looked on in aw as the rattlers tail slid back towards its owner.

"How'd ya lose yer tail?"

"That aint none of yer business child, not get goin' for I lose my cherub like domineer,"

"Yer what?" Pricilla tiled her head to the left and look directly into the rattlers eyes. This made Jake rather uncomfortable, he'd never had someone look him in the eye willfully and he didn't really know what to do in this situation.

"Leave me alone before I decide to have me a lil' snake before dinner," Jake hissed out more aggressively, causing many of the patrons to duck beneath their tables or behind their chairs. Pricilla, however, just slid off the chair, patted the dust off her skirt, and turned around to wave a goodbye to the rattler. And with that, pranced out of the saloon leaving the rattler quite stunned and annoyed.

"What are y'all lookin' at?" he growled out towards the crowd and they went back to doing whatever it was they were doing. As dust fell upon the town, people began to close up shop, and mothers were calling children back home. Jake slide out of saloon and onto the boardwalk, lazily making his way down towards the local inn, he stopped momentarily to see Sofia finishing up her last order and seeing the costumers to the door. She gleefully slid off her work apron, and got busy tidying up the shop, placing small knickknacks back to their original stop, humming while she swept the floors and occasionally fixing the odd light fixture back in place with a graceful movement of her tail. Her movements were fluid and smooth, with a sort of grace to them, almost as if she were dancing. Jake stared a while longer, allowing the memories of his youth to flow back to him. He remembered how he used to love chasing after her in the yellow cups that grew at the edge of town. How they played cops and robbers, and how they ended up sleeping curled together after along days play outside. They were memories that Jake whished he could experience again, but he knew better then to dwell on the past. He had come to this town to do a job, not to remember long lost moments. With a stern shake of his head he made his way quickly to the local inn and tucked himself away for the night.

* * *

><p>He was up before the crack of dawn making sure he had all that he needed for the job. There was nobody awake at that hour so Jake was free to explore the town of Dirt a little more thoroughly. He looked into every knock and cranny that he could find; trying to see if there was a reason the pipes were beginning to fail again. The last time was due to corruption and greed, this time it was due to poor maintenance. There was severe corrosion on the main pipe that led into town; the flying sand had whittled the metal down. Jake face was plastered with a stern grimace; it was going to take a miracle to get the entire pipeline fixed before the dry season was upon them. Jake decided that he had spent enough time inspecting the piece of pipe; he was getting a tad hungry. He turned around and slithered quietly out of the back ally onto the boardwalk, and right in front of the tailor's shop. He grumbled to himself getting frustrated at his faulty sense of direction. As he turned around to in the direction of the saloon he heard a loud thump from inside the tailor shop. More precisely above it where Sofia's home was, he turned a curious glance towards the upward windows to see if there was more then one person inside the structure. Another thump this time followed by low murmurs, Jake stiffened. He quickly looked around the shop, trying to find some sort of entrance inside. He shot up the back staircase and stopped at the upstairs door. Making sure his guns were loaded, he opened the door and silently glided into the room.<p>

He made his way to the kitchen, making sure to cause any sort of sound. If there were intruders he wanted to take them by surprise, and then make sure they would never be able to tell the tale to anyone. His blood boiled at the thought of something bad happening to her. He promised himself long ago that he would kill anyone who tried to harm her, and Rattlesnake Jake never broke a promise. As he approached the kitchen he could hear the murmurs growing louder, he stopped just at the doorframe and peered inside.

"Goddamn, useless piece of vulture shit… GHA, I give up… where the hell did I leave that spare coffee pot?" Sofia grumbled to herself as she rifled through the top cabinets in her kitchen. She was flustered, angry, and had not patients, and it was only six in the morning. The reason for her vial mood was due to her coffee pot failing her, in her frustration to find the spare she accidently had a few cans of peaches and a couple of rather large beans.

"Aha! There you are you litter varmint!" Sofia announce triumphantly as she pulled the coffee pot free of it pan-surrounded prison. With a smile plastered on her face she quickly went to work filling the pot with juice and placing it on the stove to heat up. There was a creak in the floorboards that came from outside the kitchen. The noise made Sofia stiffen; quickly she grabbed the nearest weapon she had, which to her disappointment was a frying pan that she forgot to wash last night. She silently made her way to the doorframe.

Jake could only see Sofia, but due to the darkness of the room, couldn't see the intruders. He counted to three slowly making last minute adjustments to his guns. Sofia held her breath; squeezing the pan tightly in her coils slowly she counted to three. _'One... two…three!'_

"Let 'er go or else I'll filled ya full of le—"

"Eat dirty frying pan you son of a bitch!" Sofia shouted as she slammed the pan down hard on her attackers head. She turned towards the light switch flicked it open.

"Ha, gotcha you slimy lil'… knocked out criminal under my care…OH MY GOODNESS! Jake are you ok?" Sofia looked down in horror at the dazed outlaw who was lying facedown on her kitchen floor.

Jake came to a moment later, casting a dizzy, painful glance upwards to Sofia, who was hovering over him with a worried expression on her face.

"Damn women… you always this friendly with people who are tryin' to save ya from bandits?" Jake grumbled out, he could already feel the lump on his head begin to form.

"Bandits, save me…what are you talking about?" Jake scowled at the confused look he got from her, and hissed out,

"The damn bandits that were in yer kitchen, ya silly woman. I heard noises from outside yer shop and hear voices comin' from inside yer kitchen. Why the hell do ya think I came rushin' in 'ere like the air was on fire? It wasn't te play patty cake that's for sure." Sofia looked blankly at him for a whole two minutes as she put the pieces of the puzzle together. Her head dipped, Jake was sure that she was going to apologize to him or start to cry something along those line. Instead she threw back her head and let out a huge roar of laughter.

"W-w-wait, yo-you actually though that t-t-there were ban-ban-bandits in m-m-my home so you r-r—rushed in to try a-a-and save me… hahahahah," Sofia was now of the floor, her midsection was pulled upwards so that it was touching her chin, there were tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. Jake looked on stunned, his eyes got hard and he reared up bearing his fangs.

"What the hell is so funny? I just SAVED yer life and this is how ya repay me?" Jake roared, which only caused Sofia to burst out into even more tiny giggles.

"O-o-oh Jake, 'sniff' ahh…there were no bandits," She managed to stager out. Jake stopped mid-hiss and looked at her slacked jawed.

"Come agai'?"

"That was me silly, the noises you heard outside were from me dropping a couple of cans of peaches and some large beans."  
>"The voic—" Sofia closed his lips with her tail<p>

"Were from me mumbling to myself trying to find my extra coffee pot," she signaled him by pointing her head towards the stove behind him. Jake looked back at the stove then to the left of him, adding up all the pieces. A very thin blush began to creep up his face, he tried did his best to hide it but lowering his face and using his hat as a shield. Sofia just looked on and chucked to herself, _'that dummy, hasn't changed a bit…'_ she though happily to herself, she turned her head so that it as adjacent to his.

"Jake, can you look at me please?" she said in a very soft voice, which made his blush grow even deeper. As a result he lowered his head even more so that it was parallel to the floorboards.

"Jacob, please look at me," she said in a much softer voice. Jake's head snapped up and he turned his head three quarters to her. He hadn't been called that in so long he had forgotten what it sounded like. Sofia smiled lightly and placed a butterfly kiss on the rattlers cheek.

"Thank you for rushing in here and trying to protect me from 'bandits' I really do appreciate the gesture… and sorry for hitting you on the head with a dirty frying pan," she looked him in the eye as she spoke, she could see his eyes turn from shock to warm and glowing. It was breath taking to see, the reds and oranges began to slightly fade revealing the beautiful yellow that she had loved as a child. They looked at each other of a few minutes before becoming aware of the other. Sofia adverted her gaze and made her way around the gunslinger towards the stove. She hoped that Jake couldn't see her, for her face had taken on a hue of bright scarlet. Jake did notice though he had seen it out of the corner of his eye the moment she made a break for the stove. He lowered his hat so that she wouldn't see his smile.

"Umm, would you like some coffee? I have plenty…" Sofia said as she causally lifted her head and through him an over shoulder glance. Jake looked at her from behind the rim of his hat, his eyes seemed to see right through her very being, it made her shiver.

"Coffee would be nice—"

"I can even whip up some bacon and eggs if you would like?" Sofia said in a hushed voice. Jake came around side her and cast a glowing smile downwards.

"No man can turn down bacon and eggs," he smirked and went to the other end of the kitchen. He watched her as she cooked, just like in the shop last night; her movements were fluid and graceful. She really was dancing, he noted, he also took notice of how damn beautiful she looked in the apron she was wearing. The fabric hugged her coils and tightly emphasizing the curves in her slender yet robust form, it really left nothing to the imagination.

They ate their breakfast in relative peace, neither one looking the other directly in the eye. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, both of them had been on their own for so long that it was nice just to have someone in the room with them, even if they weren't talking. Jake glanced at the clock above the stove it read seven thirty, which meant he had to get going soon. He looked lifted his head slightly so that he could take one last gander at Sofia before he took off. She had already cleared the dished and was washing them in the sink. Slowly he approached her, tapping her side with his tail to get her attention.

"I'm goin' to head out now,"

"Oh, ok well I'll see you in a little bit I guess," Sofia let out a small smile and there was silence for a little while.

"It might be best if I went through the back, seein' as you don't want anyone in town to know I was up 'ere," Jake said, Sofia was a little disappointed that he would think that of her, but she didn't let it show.

"I couldn't give a damn what the towns people though, but if that's what you want to do then its fine by me, here let me get the door…" Sofia glided past him towards the back entrance.

" Uh, I really think you should—"

"MY DOOR!"

"Let me do it myself" Jake whispered the last part and slowly made his way to the back entrance. Where he saw Sofia trying to understand how her solid oak door, imported from Canada, was smashed to splinters.

"How in the hell…you know what I really don't want to know…" she turned away from the door and looked at Jake, who seemed a bit worried. _'God I hope she doesn't have another fryin' pan on her,'_ Jake silently hoped as Sofia dissected his expression. She simply let out a sigh and move out of the way to let him pass.

"Thank you again for the, uh, 'rescue' effort Jake," she said with a chuckle

"Yer welcome…thanks for the coffee and food, it was good…oh and I'll replace the door,"

"There's really no need t—"

"I'll fix it," Jake said sternly, then gave a tip of his hat and slithered down the steps. Sofia watched him go down the steps, then made her way back to the kitchen, rather quickly, so just see him glide off along the boardwalk towards the saloon. She smiled to herself as she lay her lower body against the sink, _'he really is the same as he was back then, just grown up and a little more stubborn'_ she sighed and got back to finishing off the dished. Today was going to be a very long day…


	5. Chapter 5

Sofia had been right by saying it was going to be a very long day, by ten o'clock there was a brawl in the saloon and doc was called in to see to one of the fellows. It wasn't a major injury; only requiring a mere five stitches, but five stitches at ten in the morning was a sign. It usually meant that the rest of the day was going to be just as brutal.

She was already running late at least an hour behind schedule, which was mainly due to the fact that she had to find some way of keeping her back door wide open to strangers. Sofia had tried everything from her bathroom door, which was too small, to her older door, which was too big. In the end she just made a giant barrier of extra cloth she had laying around the store.

Sofia hurried down the boardwalk towards the sheriff's office, _'lord I hope I'm not that late!'_ she prayed as she speed past so of the slower critters in front of her.

"Sheriff, I apologize for my lateness," she wheezed out as she slinked into the small room. Jake was already in the corner of the chamber, propped up against the wall with his hat tilted downwards. Wounded Bird, Spoons, Rango and Waffles were scrunched up close together looking over the map of the town and the surrounding desert.

"Ah Sofia, you're just in time. We're assigning the quadrants to different groups." The sheriff smiled gleefully and handed her a map with the number three scratched on the top right hand corner.

"You 'n' Jake will be in charge or sector three,"

"And where exactly is sector three?"

"Uh, that has yet to be decided," _'oh ya, today is going to be juuuust peachy,'_ Sofia silently groaned to herself as she rolled the map up and curled up into a neat three looped circle near the door of the establishment, and drifted off into a nap.

"Now how in tar nation are we gonna divide this here territory?" Rango sent a curious glace towards Wounded Bird.

"No look at me," he said with a blank expression.

"Waffles?"

"Yes,"

"Any ideas on how can divide this 'ere map?"

" Uh…come agai'?"

"Right…spoons?"

"What ya say sonny? Speak up I can't hear ya like I used too,"

'Sofia," Rango said in a squeaky voice

"I'm just the babysitter Sheriff," she reminded him behind closed eyes.

"Jake," Rango's voice had gone from squeaky to desperate. Jake looked up from behind his hat and cast a blank glare at the sheriff. He slithered up to the map, and eyed it carefully.

"Seems to me that we have to go in different direction,"

"Brilliant!" Rango threw his hands up in the air,

"Sheriff and the bird can take the north sector, cupcake and fork can take the east, and me and miss sunshine over there can take the south."

"Who, who's he callin' cupcake?" Waffles tugged on Wounded Birds poncho, the native simply looked down at the lizard and pointed to him.

"Oh…ooohhhh ok that makes sense," Waffles nodded his head in agreement and released Wounded Birds poncho.

"Ignorance is bliss," Wounded Bird said under his breath as the group exited the law mans building and got on a roadrunner.

"Alright well all meet back here at sundown, got it?" Rango questioned as he surveyed the crowd, no hands rose.

"Good luck and Gods speed, yehaa" with that the group split in their opposite directions leaving Sofia and Jake alone in the middle of the road.

"Alright miss sunshine, time to get goin'" Jake hissed out as they stated down the road towards the edge of town. Sofia looked at Jake then looked at the sky, there were clouds beginning to gather. A curious look over her features as she concentrated more and more on the sky.

"Hey! Miss babysitter, yeh comin' 'er what?" Jake yelled out from the edge of town. She sighed and started after Jake. _'Yup, this is going to be a very long day…'_

* * *

><p>After finding the pipeline they were assigned, Jake began his assessment under Sofia's watchful eye. The pipe had once belonged to the humans, but since their abandonment of it the town's people of Dirt claimed it as their own. He looked at the pipe from top to bottom, making mental notes of the number of dents, how many sections needed changing, and how long the process would take.<p>

Sofia watched him take note of these things in quite astonishment; she'd never imagined that he'd take the job this seriously. It brought a tiny warm feeling to her heart; she smiled and then went back to sowing the dress she was working on. The garment wasn't fancy, it was made of pale blue cotton, with I high color and long sleeves. The skirt stopped just above the ankle and wasn't too flamboyant, the dress mimicked the person it was designed for. It was made though and hard working, but it had a warm side to it. The cuffs, collar and hem were adorned with elegant white lace, which gave a very feminine touch to the dress. Sofia had put the lace on herself, this dress was meant for a very special person, Beans.

Sofia had also taken the liberty to knit a couple of unisex baby clothes out of some cotton she had gotten. She imagined Bean's expression when she would open the package expecting only find her dress but being surprised by the tiny garments inside. She knew that Bean's would be very pleased, and that made her pleased. Her smile grew even larger as she put the finishing touched to the dress and placed it gingerly in the satchel she had brought with her.

The wind began to pickup throwing large clouds of sand in the air. Jake stopped inspecting the pipe and looked up at the sky, large clouds began to roll in. He flicked out his tongue to taste the air; it was moist and filled with sand particles. _'Damn it all to hell, we're about to have a flash flood,'_ flash floods meant the work on the pipe would have to be halted. His sneer grew even darker as he continued to watch the sky; the giant clouds were rolling in harder and faster and were even darker then the one that just passed. It was time to go, Jake scanned the horizon looking for anything that could be used as a possible safe haven. Suddenly there was a burst of thunder; it rattled the pipes and shock the ground.

"Sofia! Time to go!" Jake bellowed at her causing her head to snap up. She had curled herself in a tight ball, trying to cover her ears. Thunder had always scared her; it was a dark remainder of her past.

"SOFIA!" Jake let out another; harder bellow then the last but she still didn't budge. He came racing up to her casting a steely glare down at her,

"There's a flash flood comin' we have to go now!" He barked it did no good she was unable to move and she began to shiver. Another loud thunder ripped across the sky sending her straight into Jake's coils. Jake grunted as she made contact, he was about to yell at her again when he looked down and saw her shivering uncontrollably. He muttered something to himself, mentally hitting himself for not realizing her predicament sooner. Sofia managed to look up at him, her brown eyes filled with clear tears.

"S-s-sorry, I-I-I'm just not u-u-used to t-t-thunder…" she slowly backed away from him. He pulled her back against him and softly stroked her back with the upper portion of his tail.

"Shhhh, it'll be alright…come on now we have to be findin' some form of shelter. Aint no way we can make it in te town before this storm hits," Jake said softly as he continued to stork her back. Sofia sniffed and pulled away a little so that she could look him in the eyes.

"There was a hollowed out cactus we passed on the way here, it looked deserted,"

"How far is it?"

"Just over that ridge" Sofia indicated it with her tail.

"Alright best we get goin'," Jake said with a determined look in his eye. Slowly he released her from his gentle grip and the pair began to slither rather quickly to the ridge. Just as they made it over, it started to rain.


	6. Chapter 6

They had made it to the cactus before the rain came on harder. Once inside they were able to see just how lucky they were to have found shelter. The rain came belting down hard and fast, like machinegun fire. What used to be desert was transformed into an ocean in just mere seconds. The wind howled across the land and lightening could be seen gathering in the thick clouds. Sofia looked up to the sky,_ 'I hope they're safe,'_ she let out a gloomy sigh and retreated to the back of the hole.

* * *

><p>The flash flood had reached the town sooner then expected forcing most of the critters to find shelter in the cramped stores. The floods roared through the town, carrying away anything that wasn't attached or secure. People looked helplessly from store windows as the current carried their carts, wagons and other possessions away. Beans watched the destruction take place from the safety of the sheriff's office. Rango had gone out with a couple of other men to try and secure some of the more unstable buildings, he still hadn't come back yet and the storm was getting worse. Beans let out a ragged sigh and made her way to the small stove at the opposite end of the room. She placed a caring hand over her swollen belly, gently caressing it.<p>

"Its alright lil one, if I know yer daddy, which I do, he'll be back before you can spit," she sung out as she looked down at her unborn child. Suddenly the door to the sheriff's office swung open, startling Beans. She threw her hand up in defense but, to her surprise and relief, was meet with the warm loving hands of her husbands.

"Whoa there lil lady, aint no reason to get all flustered," he said jokingly as he slowly intertwined their hands. Beans looked up and gave him a heartwarming smile, placing a feather light kiss on his lips.

"I missed you something fierce!" she whispered in a hoarse voice, the tears had begun to pool at the side of her cheeks. Slowly two tiny sliver rivers began to flow on her cheeks, Rango lifter her head up, and with his thumb, began to whip all her troubles and worries away.

"Sorry I scared you darlin'," Rango said as he drew her up into the warm, safe embrace of his arms. He slowly stroked his left hand up and down her back until she stopped her crying. He pulled up a bench from one of the prison cells and placed in front of the fire. He gingerly set out a very smooth cover over the bench. He then proceeded to straddle the bench, Beans looked on with a confused yet amused glint in her eyes. _'What on earth is he up to now?'_ she lightly mused to herself. She finally understood what her caring husband was up too when he turned his face to hers and opened up his arms, inviting her to sit in between his legs. Her heart warmed with pure love for him, it was moments like these that she truly treasured. She lay her back against his chest and propped her feet up on the bench. Rango's hands then slid underneath her belly cradling it. He hummed softly in her ear and slowly ran his hands up and down her belly. For a long moment they sat there in silence, listening to the thunder crackle and the raindrops fall.

"Rango,"

"Hmm…"

"Do you think they're alright?"

"Who?"

"Sofia and Jake silly, they still haven't come back into town,"

"Am sure they're fine love, if there is one thing am sure of is that Jake will keep Sofia safe no matter what. Besides they get along wonderfully,"

"You're right," Beans signed out and snuggled up to her husband.

"Of course I'm right, am always right," Rango chuckled to himself.

* * *

><p>"Get your tail off of my side of the bloody cactus!"<p>

"Am sorry your majesty but there aint no other place for my ta put it,"

"I can think of a few colorful places," Sofia muttered under her breath, it had been like this for hours. The cactus hole was far two small to house to fully grown rattler let alone two. The ferocity of the storm had made Sofia extremely edgy, and very territorial. She didn't like the feeling of having someone on top of her that mixed in with the storm had caused her to snap at every movement Jake had made.

"Here," she took her tail and began to draw a very thin line in between her and Jake, "this is my side of the cactus and that is your side," she pointed to the line to make her point clear. Jake gave her an empty gaze as he eyed the line.

"Yer side is bigger then my side,"

"Grow up will you, they are both the same size,"

"No they aint,"

"Yes they are,"

"No…they…anit!"

"Yes…they…ARE!" Sofia yelled out as another crash of thunder came ripping overhead. It sent her flying into the protective coils of her companion. Jake looked down at her with heartfelt eyes, _'aint nothin' changed about her, she's still that lil miss I left years ago…'_ he chuckled to himself, he then bent down his head and whispered in her ear.

"Sofia, yer on my side of the cactus," the low, seductive growl sent a warm shiver through the whole of her body. Jake smirked when he felt it pass through her_ 'I still got it'_ he smiled triumphantly to himself. Sofia was less impressed by her reaction to his whisper.

"Sorry," she let out in an angry huff and began to pull away from him. She was instantly stopped by his much stronger coils.

"I never said it bothered me now did I?" he looked down at her with a lusty gaze. That gaze made her tense all over; she didn't like the idea of spending the night alone in a cramped hole with someone whom she had had feeling for and maybe still did. Sofia didn't meet Jakes gaze, instead she dropped her head very low.

"Please Jake…Jacob let me go…I'm sorry I snapped at you, I just… I just was so…so…" she was interrupted by a small kiss to the side of her face. This small gesture caused all the blood to rise to the side of her face where his lips had brushed, and turn the entire and surrounding area a brilliant shade of pink. She felt the coils tighten around her, not in a killing way, but in a comforting way. The tightness made her feel safe and secure. She cast a tiny glace upwards but what she saw only intensified her blush.

Jake's face was turned to the left, leaving that entire area exposed, showing off the brilliant scarlet hue that had rose up around Jakes face. Sofia quickly looked away, and for a long while the two said nothing. They just stayed intertwined with each other. Outside they could still hear the rain and wind rage on, it was cold outside, but inside it was like the desert on a normal day.


	7. Chapter 7

The sun rose over the horizon, streaks of yellow and gold got into every nook and cranny awaking the desert. The first few rays of morning light trickled into the cactus awaking Jake first. He awoke in a grumpy mood, the light made his eyes sting and there was something heavy, yet surprisingly soft, curled up beside him. He looked to his left to see Sofia curled up like a baby by his side. Under normal circumstances he would have been thrilled to have her beside him when he awoke, but these were _not_ normal circumstances.

During the night Jake had been subjected to constant hits, kicks, and bashed from the innocent looking angle that was currently sleeping so peacefully. She had hit him with her rattle, kicked him with her coils, hit him with the side of her head and completely taken over the entire cactus. At one point he had considered going to spend the rest of the night outside in the storm, at least there he wouldn't have been so badly beaten. The part that had gotten really hot under the collar was the fact that she did this all in her sleep. The little chit had nearly beaten him senseless and she wasn't even conscious. _'I aint never gonna live this down'_ Jake cursed as he turned towards Sofia again.

The sun had completely taken over the cactus and bathing Sofia in a warm yellow glow. Her scales shone bright amber, and her eyelashes a deep golden brown, Jake could feel his heartbeat quicken. He grimaced at the feeling of his heartbeat quicken, _'this aint no time to be star struck like some school boy!'_ He was right; the storm had lane waste to the entire desert. This meant it was going to be harder to find their way back home. The though of getting lost in the desert unsettled him, there were far more dangerous monsters lurking in the shadows and he didn't want to make their acquaintance. He decided it was time to leave, the turned to Sofia and gave her a hard shove to wake her.

"What?" Sofia's left eye had shot open glaring upwards at Jake.

"Time ta go,"

"What time is it?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"Look at the sun smart ass…" she was not the most pleasant thing in the morning; he had come to that conclusion rather quickly. He raised his hat slightly so that he looked her in the eye. He gave her the most bone-chilling glare he could muster. She simply gave him a bland look back.

"Look if ya have to go to the bathroom you could have just told me instead of giving me that look," she said matter-o-facilely as she uncurled herself and slithered clumsily out of the cactus hole, leaving a rather embarrassed and angered Jake behind.

"This is gonna be a lo-o-o-o-ong slither back," he muttered to himself as he followed in her wake.

* * *

><p>Beans paced nervously inside the sheriff's office, occasionally looking out the window towards the edge of town. Pricilla had come into the office as soon as first light had hit she too was extremely worried.<p>

"Do you think they're still alive Beans?" Pricilla cast a worried glance upwards at Beans.

"Course I do hon," she gave the youngster a reassuring pat on the head. Rango had been out on his rounds all morning trying too assess the damaged the storm had done. Most of the buildings in the town of Dirt had been relatively untouched by the floodwaters. The real damage had been done to the boardwalk, and the structured on the edge of the town. The pipeline had been strong enough to survive the storm, which gave some silver lining to Rango's very dark cloud.

Rango felt the despair as he made his way into the sheriff's building; he saw both Beans and Pricilla look out towards the edge of town. Both of them had slightly watery eyes, a sure sign that tears were soon to come. Rango approached the two gently, placing a reassuring had on both their shoulders.

"Now don't you too be gettin' all worried over nothin', I guarantee that Sofia will be back before sun down,"

"Ya promise," Pricilla gave Rango a worried glance; he bent down so that they were eye to eye.

"Count on it lil' sister," he smiled. Pricilla gave him a tiny smile and hugged him tightly. Rango lifted her up and placed her on his hip.

"Besides Jake has an excellent sense of direction, I wouldn't be surprised if they're coming up to town now,"

* * *

><p>"You are lost Jake just admit it, please!" Sofia wearly said, it was already high noon and they had not spotted a single familiar landmark.<p>

"I aint lost!" Jake cast a glare over his shoulder as he slithered onwards. Excitement and smugness came to his voice as the pair came across a large egg shaped rock with a tiny yellow flower atop it.

"Told you we aint lost, I recognize that there rock. We should see Dirt any minute now," Jake smiled triumphantly at Sofia.

"Jake you recognize that rock because we've past that rock exactly three times in the last four hours… you are LOST! Can we just ask someone … ANYONE for directions!" Sofia's spat out as she came face to face with Jake.

"I aint asking for directions cause I aint lost," he grumbled out to her bringing his face closer so that their noses were almost touching.

"You are so stubborn! What is it with men and NOT EVER asking for directions?" Sofia yelled out as she glared into Jake's eyes. She noticed that his eyes had become a lot redder since the storm hit; in fact, the beautiful yellow was almost completely gone. She sighed, turning her head downwards as she slithered past him. Jake took deep calming breathes, _'Keep yer cool, gettin' mad anit gonna solve any of yer problems…'_ he told himself and started after Sofia.

She was already a good few feet in front of him, and she was making it very obvious that she was not about to make any small talk with him. They remained like that for a solid ten minutes, occasionally Sofia would look over her shoulder to make sure Jake was all right. Pleased with her findings, she would promptly turn her head back and slithered on.

"Well miss babysitter, ye have any idea where in the blue blazes we are?"

"Uh…I have no idea…"

"Thought so,"

"Well at least I'm trying to find someone who can give us d-i-r-e-c-t-i-o-n-s!" Sofia threw a glare over her shoulder and pressed on. Soon the pair came across large, sandstone town,_ 'Someone here has to know where Dirt is,'_ Sofia reassured herself as she approached the large structure.

"Excuse me, is anyone there?" She called out; Jake had hung back and was currently leaning on a rock.

"Aint no use lil' darlin', this 'ere town's deserted," Jake called back with a small chuckle hidden within his voice. Sofia shot him a warning glare that sent a chill down his spine.

Suddenly the ground began to shake in front of Sofia, Jake was right beside her in mere seconds.

"What in the name of he—" Jake was cut of by a sharp blow to the head delivered by an old, blind ground hog who emerged from the fresh hole. A tall one with bulging front teeth and a shorter one with different colored eyes followed quickly in the elders wake.

"Who goes there?" The elder swung his walking stick around in the air. Sofia ducked out of the way but the elder struck Jake, who had just gotten back on his coils, yet again in the head.

"Jake!"

"Uhhhh… Sofia has anyone told ya how very pretty ye look when the light's behind yer head?" Jake said wearily causing Sofia to roll her eyes and chuckle. She then turned to the three groundhogs, looking the shorter on in the eye, he seemed a little smarter and kinder then the others.

"Excuse me but my friend and I are a bit lost and we were wondering if you could give us directions to the Town of Dirt?"

"She's lyin' we aint lost…uhhh ma head…"

"Jake take five," Sofia placed a soothing coil atop his head then, again, turned her attention to the groundhogs.

"Well ye seem nice enough I don't see why—" the shorter one was cut off by the elder's walking stick.

"Shut yer mouth ya idiot, let me handle this…what's in it fer us?"

"My eternal gratitude and the reassurance that you saved our lives," Sofia said with a huge grin.

"Does she look like she sounds?"

"Uh…ya"

"Right am guessin' you anit from around 'ere"

"Correct I'm from Dirt,"

"Well we operate a little differently then the town of Dirt,"

"No shit Sherlock," she huffed out

"Excuse me?"

"Hm,"

"Look here miss, I aint runnin' a social party, so I'll be frank,"

"Yer gonna try and chew yer own foot off Pappy?" The taller of the tilted his head in confusion towards the elder,

"What…no not that Frank ya idiot, am using fancy English 'ere"

"Oh…"  
>"You know what I think we'll just go and find some other crazy blind man to help us…come on Jake time to go," Sofia gently nudged the knocked out rattler but to no avail.<p>

"I'll tell yer where Dirt is, but yer gonna have ta pay fer it..."

"You're joking right?"

"Pappy don't joke when it comes to water,"

"Does it look like I have any sort of pockets on me?"

"Uh…" the two looked at her then back to each other.

"Answers no," she said with a blank expression.

"Well there are other ways of…paying if ya get ma drift…" the elder approached Sofia, getting within inches of her face. "You could always beg fer i—" Sofia's coils came whirling a round the three men catching them off guard, bringing her face within inches their own.

"Listen here you inbred, half wit, wastes of skin! I'm not in the most joyous of moods right now; I've been traveling with a trigger happy gunslinger, I was caught up in a cramped hole the entire night, and on top of that I've yet to have my morning coffee! You DO NOT want to screw with me. So here's how this little scenario is going to play out; you ARE going to lead us back to Dirt, and you WILL do it for free. If I hear any complaints then you will become very intimate with my stomach acid. Ya got that meat heads?" Sofia hissed out bearing her fangs to get her point across.

"Yes Miss," the three answered simultaneously. All of them had turned pale and were shaking vigorously. Slowly Sofia uncoiled herself and released them, bearing her fangs one more time to prove she wasn't bluffing. She then turned her attention to Jake, who by now, was clumsily tying to regain his balance.

"Whoa there partner," Sofia said in a sweet voice as she helped him get up.

"Am alright," Jake said in an embarrassed huff as he pulled away. He came crashing back onto Sofia, pinning her on the ground.

"Oww my head…Jake are y-y-y-y…" his nose was touching hers, his lips were centimeters apart from hers. His eyes were closed as a result from the fall, she tried to wake him but to no gain. She closed her eyes and let out a heavy sign, _'he's got to wake up sometime, hopefully soon…'_ she told herself as she tried again to push the gunslinger off her.

"Sofia…" she immediately stopped her struggling and glanced upwards, Jake's eyes were still shut. _'Wonderful…he's sleep taking, oh this day just keeps getting better and better,'_ she though sarcastically.

"Sofia…I…love…you…" Jake breathed out and her eyes shot open. _'Ok calm down girl, remember he's sleep talking,'_ she reassured herself, her heartbeat had gotten louder and a slight blush was creeping up her cheeks.

"C-come on Jake, wake up!" She shoved him her head in another attempt to waken him.

"Sofia…don't hit me fer this…" he breathed out as he lightly pressed his lips against hers. Sofia's heart went into overdrive at the feeling of his scaly, yet soft, lips gently press against hers. There was no way for her to move her head and break the kiss, and she really didn't want to. She had been waiting for this moment since they were both teenagers, and it was finally here. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, feeling a rush of warm feelings inside of her. Slowly Jake backed his head away from hers, his eyes blinked open and he looked down at her. Sofia was a bright pink, her breath was rapid and her eyes glazed over with pure love, she was a beautiful sight to behold. Jake could feel his own heart begin to beat in his ears, but he kept his calm.

"Jak—"

"What are you doing there?" Jake interrupted her with an ice-cold glare that sent coldness through her veins.

"What do you mean…you pushed me down remember…you fell on me…them you ki—"

"I don't remember anything about falling on you. All I remember is you yellin' at those morons and them agreeing to take us to Dirt." Jake barked out as he quickly got up.

"You mean you don't remember anything after that?" Sofia cast his a confused glance. Jake looked up from behind his hat and sneered.

"I just said I didn't!" He grumbled out before his head away from her. He caught a glimpse of her from the corner of his eye that nearly stopped him in his tracks. Her eyes were filled with tears; those brown eyes that were always welcoming and warm had turned into pools of watery sadness. She had tilted her head away from him to hide her tears, Jake began to turn his head to speak when then sharp squeal of a desert pig caught his attention. The prospectors had hitched the pig up to a large wagon, big enough for two rattlers.

"Lets get going you too, ya wanna get to Dirt afore sundown right?" Pappy said sharply as he steadied the pig.

"Coming," Sofia shouted back as she quickly made her way past Jake and into the cart.

"Yah coming boy?" The elder asked in an annoyed tone, Jake lowered his hat so that none of his face could be seen. He got into the wagon and sat on the far side, away from Sofia. She had coiled herself into a tight ball, he could hear very, very faint sobs coming from inside the ball. He lowered his hat even more so that no one could see the single silver tear roll down his cheek as he settled into the wagon.


	8. Chapter 8

The ride back to town was a quite one; neither Jake nor Sofia said a word to each other. The only form of talking that could be heard was the tongue-lashings Pappy would be giving to his two boys.

_'I should talk to her, try and explain ma self…No! Its better this way…'_ Jake furrowed his brow as he looked up from behind his hat. Sitting directly across from his was Sofia, her head was tilted away from Jake but he managed to see her eyes. The once warm pools of brown were now a stale copper, the surrounding area was reddened and swollen from the amount of crying she had done.

_'I don't understand him…I though we were getting close…I thought we were finally connectin— No! I was a fool, how could I even begin to think that this could possibly work…fuck…this is so messed up.'_ Sofia let out a frustrated sigh and looked out at the scenery. The desert had been transformed into an oasis of flowers and sweet grasses that filled the air with lovely fragrances. Many songbirds had taken to the sky and were singing out for all to hear. The beauty and tranquility allowed Sofia to clear her mind for a moment and simply relax; she soon drifted off to sleep.

"Ma'am… we've arrived at Dirt…ma'am?" Sofia slowly opened her eyes to find a pair of green and blue ones staring back at her. She slowly lifted her head above the tiny critter and gazed over the rim of the wagon; there in front of her was Dirt. A tiny smile began to tug at the side of her face, _'I'm home.'_

She looked over and was surprised to find Jake gone; she quickly turned to face the critter.

"Do you know where he went?"

"Yes ma'am he left bout a half hour ago, told us to let ye sleep a bit longer," _'how thoughtful of him,'_ Sofia sarcastically though as she descended from the wagon.

"Thank you for your help…I'm sorry about before, I wasn't really going to eat you"

"Its alright miss, good thing ya did what ya did or else Pappy wouldn't have taken ya 'ere." Sofia let out a small chuckle, then the two said their goodbyes as she made her way back home.

* * *

><p>"Sofia's back!" A small child shouted from atop one of the buildings, causing the whole town to run out and greet her as she made her way into town. Pricilla shoved pass the happy town people and ran directly towards Sofia.<p>

"Hey Prici—" 'pow' "… my spleen," Sofia said in a tiny voice. Pricilla had run head first into the rattler's underbelly causing Sofia to go flying backwards.

"I missed you so much!" Pricilla said though tiny sobs as she hugged her friend even tighter.

"Pricilla honey, I've missed you too… but right now you're squeezing the remains of my liver and I need that to live so if you could just let go of just a tiny, itzy-bitsy second I would really appreciate it," Sofia managed to breath as the tiny girl continued to hug her tightly. Finally Pricilla let go slowly Sofia regained her balance and collected the girl in her coils giving her a gentle, yet fierce hug.

"I missed you too," she let out in a small whisper as she continued to hug the child. The rest of the towns people came up and welcomed her back, Rango and Beans also hugged her fiercely causing tiny tears of joy to stain her cheeks.

"Hey why don't yeah come on down to the saloon and have a drink?" Rango gestured towards the popular building with a large smile on his face.

"No thanks sheriff, it's been a long few days, I really want to get some sleep. Perhaps another time?" Sofia gave him an apologetic look Rango nodded with a smile. Then turned to the towns people and told them the show was over and that they would have plenty of time to hear the story when she was well rested. Sofia thanked him as she made her way wearily towards her home. She climbed the stairs briskly and pushed back the piece of fabric that was her temporary door. She took a quick survey of her home, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Pleased with what she found, she hurried to bed and once she was under the covers she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>' <em>The dream picked up where it had last left off, there she was in the claws of the monster that destroyed her home and demolished her town. His face was obscured by the pitch-black night, but his eyes stood out. They were stunning silver that pierced through her very soul.<em>

"_LET HER GO!" A familiar voice bellowed out from behind the massive wall of flesh. He slowly turns to see who spoke to him in that manner she tries to get up but she is no match for his strong talons. She lays there and listens to their conversation,_

"_How dare you talk to me in that fashion boy!"_

"_You said that if I brought you here you would lea—"_

"_Leave her alone…Ha! Foolish child, do you know how much a human would pay for a creature like this? Hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars and YOU think I'm just going to let her go like that?" he laughs sinisterly as he grabs the boys throat with his free claw and brings him up to his face._

"_Now you listen to me…you stole something from me and I want it back, but it seems like its not here. I'm going to take her as payment, and there is _nothing_ you can do about it…" the monster spits out as he flings the small boy across the air into a near my barrel. He doesn't move, she feels her heart sink and again she tried to escape from the creature 's claws._

"_Oh you _are_ a feisty one my desert flower, the humans are going to pay handsomely for you," he chuckles._

"_W-w-wait," a small voice squeaks out causing him to turn in the directing it came from._

"_Oh you're still alive I see,"_

"_Take me instead,"_

"_Come again?"_

"_Let her go, and I-I-I'll become your lackey…you slave…I'll do whatever you want, but please let her go," he boy is now begging the monster, though she can't see it, she can hear the tears in his voice._

"_Become my lackey hmmm… and you swear to follow my every order right down to the finish?"_

"_Yes,"_

"_You promise to be loyal to me?"_

"_Yes,"_

"_Promise to never, _ever_ question my orders?"_

"_Yes, just please let her go..." he whimpers, the creature nodes his head and raises the clam off of her. She takes deep breaths and begins to slither away, than a sound stops her. It is the sound of claw ripping through flesh, she will always remember this sound, and she turns around to see the boy clutching his right eye with his rattle. The monster is whipping his clam on the sand, staining it with blood, the boy's blood._

"_That's for stealing what it mine…and this," with a flick of his ankle he severs the boys rattle, and other holler of pain come shooting out of the boys mouth falling painfully on her ears, "is for letting me lose a valuable item. Your tail will be replaced with some more…useful to me." The boy lets out more hiccupping sobs. "Get up, you have a job to do…until next time desert flower," he turns his head in her direction, the silver eyes alive with fury and death. She is frozen in place, unable to think, unable to react. _

"_GO SOFIA…GET OUT OF HERE!" The boy hollers towards her causing her to jump and quickly slither away. She turns back to see the entire town aflame, tiny silver tears begin in fall from her eyes. Everything she has loved is now gone up in flames._

* * *

><p>The cold night air nipped at Jake's backside causing him to shiver. He had slithered hard for two hours and was beginning to get drowsy. He shock his head to keep himself awake. This was no time to be getting sleepy, especially with the people he was meeting. It wasn't too long before he came in front of a giant metal door. There were hawks positioned on either rock, both were dressed in solider uniforms and both had giant knives in their talons. Jake slowly approached the door, hoping that these girds were nicer then the last ones.<p>

"Halt!" One of the bellowed as he left his perch and came to land directly in front of Jake, knife already up against Jake's throat.

"State your business,"

"Am 'ere to see the General,"

"What business to _you_ have with the General?" The solider questioned as he brought the knife closer to Jakes neck.

"Am 'ere to talk to him about my mission, soldier…am part of the 'black wing'," Jake said calmly as he showed his tail gun to the hawk. The hawk immediately released Jake, apologizing profusely for his mistake. He them signaled for the door to be opened, Jake nodded and slithered in quietly. He made his way down the twisting, metal hallways until he came upon a large wooden door. He knocked three times and waited for an answer.

"Enter…ah Jake it's been so long. How is the mission?" The husky voice came from behind a large leather chair, it caused Jake's spine to tingle.

"Good, everything is on schedule,"

"No complications I hope,"

"None,"

"That's good, I like it when things are going to plan don't you?"

"Yes,"

"Very well you can leave now and continue on with the plan," the chair spun around revealing an older hawk with silver eyes.

"Thank-you General Ferruginous," Jake said with a bow as he left the room, shortly after a younger hawk came into the room holding a small package under his wing.

"Are those the photos sergeant?"

"Yes General,"

"Excellent," the General smirked and opened the package.

"Well, well, well, it seems we meet again my desert flower," he said with a dark chuckle.

"Assemble the retrieval group, we leave at day break!" He barked at the younger hawk causing him to rush out of the room leaving the General to his thoughts.

"Finally, this time I _will_ make you mine," he said as he lightly kissed the photo.


	9. Chapter 9

It was around three when Jake slinked back into Dirt. The sight of the town caused fear to spread through his body, he knew something bad was going to happen and he could do little to stop it. He passed through the town like a ghost, sticking to the shadows, avoiding the boardwalk. He couldn't risk being spotted, even if it was three in the morning there was still the possibility of some drunk wandering out of the saloon and noticing him. He slowly crept along the back ally, hugging the wooden walls of the houses. A noise caught his attention; it was the sound of footsteps coming up from Main Street. Quickly he hid behind some barrels, the footsteps got louder. He could hear his heart begging to race as he armed his gun and prepared to fire.

"Pssssst Jake… ya there?" a familiar voice called out, Jake lowered his weapon and slowly slithered out to see who it was calling him. Waffles was standing in the middle of Main Street with his hands cupped around his mouth trying to whisper, but failing miserably. Jake let out a heavy sigh and turned around.

"Pssst Jake over 'ere!" Waffles shouted from across the street, this caused Jake to pounce on him and drag him into the shadows.

"You want te wake up the whole town you moron?" Jake said savagely as he uncoiled himself and glared down at Waffles. The horned lizard looked up at the rattler with a huge smile plastered on his face.

"I got something to tell you," Jake rolled his eyes and looked away.

"What is it?" he said dully.

"It's a message," Waffles said proudly, Jakes head snapped back and his eyes focused on Waffles.

"What kind of message?"

"A secret message,"

"Ok,"

"A super, secret message that know one should kno—"

"Just get to the point," Jake breathed out.

"Of what?" Waffles looked up at Jake dumbstruck

"The message"

"What message?"

"The one ye were just tellin' me," Jake could feel his blood begging to boil; he wasn't in the mood for any games.

"…Oh yaaaah, that message…the sheriff just wanted me to tell you that yer late comin' back ta town," and with that Waffles wondered down the ally way and into the darkness. Jake simply took a deep breath and wondered why he didn't just eat the lizard when he had the chance. Another sound caught his attention, he let out another annoyed sigh and turned around and came face to face with a pair of very seductive golden brown eyes.

"Bonjour Jacque,"

"Angelique,"

"I waz wondering when you were coming bach to town? Ze sheriff waz very worried," she said as she strolled up to an upside down crate and elegantly lowered herself down on it. Her eyes were enchanting, they could make a man forget his surroundings, make him forget what he was doing. She light her cigarette and took a long puff.

"Sorry fer the inconvenience, but I was delayed by the weather…as you very well know,"

"I am fully aware of zat, I have a message pour vous. From ze Général." She let out a long puff of smoke and looked at him with bedroom eyes.

"What's the message?" Jake shifted trying to get out of her line of sight, but those eyes followed him wherever he went.

"He iz coming tomorrow, and he wantz you there with him." Jake bowed his head trying to hide his scowl. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to be hurt, especially Sofia.

"Iz there a problem Jacque," she questioned lightly not seeming surprised at his response.

"No problem, I understand,"

"Good. Well zen, bon nuit Jacque,"

"Evenin' ma'am," Jake tipped his hat slightly towards her and then slithered off towards the Inn. Angelique stayed to finish her cigarette, enjoying the cool air against her fur.

"Itz going to be quite zome party tomorrow," she said with a chuckle as she stomped out her cigarette and headed towards her home.

* * *

><p>The light leaked in through the heavy drapes of Sofia's room, lightly trickling into the room. The light danced around Sofia's face, making her twist and turn in bed. She pulled the covers over her head to try and block the sun but to no avail; it was time for her to get up. As she shifted in bed she felt something warm, and furry press up against her, she above her cover but saw nothing. Shrugging she laying her face lightly on her pillow and falling back to sleep.<p>

'Boom'

"…Ow…" Sofia was lying face down on the floor. Slowly she lifted herself up and looked in the bed, Pricilla was curled up against the covers.

"Pricilla?" Sofia blinked a few times still trying to figure out how the girl got in her bed.

"Oh lord, I'm have coffee withdrawal symptoms," Sofia breathed out as she fell next to Pricilla.

"Sofia?" Pricilla slurred out as she stretched out her arms, Sofia lifted her head and gave the child a confused glance.

"What are you doing in my bed?"

"I had a nightmare that you had gone again…so I-I came in to yer house to make sure you were alright. But I was tiered to I fell asleep next to you…yer not mad are you?" Pricilla looked the rattler with worry in her eyes. Sofia's confused glance quickly turned to laughter as she nuzzled Pricilla's belly causing a stream of giggles to erupt for the tiny girls mouth.

"How could I get mad at such a cutie?" Sofia said between chuckles, and continued to nuzzle Pricilla; soon the pair were laughing on the floor.

"Hahah, oh that made me hungry. Want some breakfast?"

"Ye-y-yes please, hehehe," Pricilla managed to say between giggles. The two made their was down across to the kitchen. The coffee had already been prepared, Sofia looked on in amazement and a tear came to her eye.

"Oh, thank-you honey…its so-so wonderful!" Sofia quickly poured herself a steaming cup and slowly let the fumes engulf her senses.

"Adults are weird," Pricilla whispered under her breath as she poured herself a cup of orange juice.

"So what would you like fo—"

"Ahhhh!" A loud scream interrupted Sofia and Pricilla.

"Why do disasters always happen when I'm having coffee?" Sofia moaned as she set the cup down and joined her tiny companion by the windowsill.

"Hawks! Were being attacked by hawks!" Pricilla shouted in a mix of surprise and horror. Sofia looked out to see the town being ransacked, houses being torn apart, critters being flung in every direction, it wad happening again. She stood there frozen against the window; a rush of terror swept threw her, flash backs of what had happened that night were rushing threw her brain. A flash of light caused her to snap out of her trans, she peered into the sky. A tiny figure was speeding towards them, her heart sunk.

"Get away from the window!" She hollered to Pricilla as she snatched the tiny girl away and flung her across the room into the hall. Then there was a loud crash; it sent Sofia flying into the doorframe, causing her to lose her surroundings for a moment. A huge figure rose from the broken glass and wood, its eyes were blood red and its talons adorned with metal carvings. Its feathers were a rusty brown that seemed to drape over its gargantuan body. Slowly it turned in the direction of Pricilla, making eye contact with her.

"Ah, breakfast," it said in a raspy voice as it slowly lumbered over to where the small girl was. Pricilla's eyes were fixated on the creature; she had seen many hawks in her life but none like this. It didn't seem real; it mimicked the monsters she had seen in countless children's books, and that's what terrified her.

The monster lunged for her but was stopped by something; Pricilla opened her eyes to see Sofia sinking her fangs deep into the hawk's neck. Blood came gushing out covering most of the floor and wall, Sofia let out several blood curdling hisses as she held the hawk down with all her might. Wrapping her body even tighter around the flailing body in order to keep the sharp talons from hitting her or the girl.

The hawk let out several shrieks, but they were soon silenced, its body went limp but its eyes remained open. Slowly Sofia uncurled her body, and only when she was certain the hawk was dead, removed her fangs from its neck. Her mouth and upper body were covered in a thick spray of blood, she was breathing heavily, and her eyes had gone from loving to predatory. She turned quickly to face Pricilla; the tiny girl was shivering on the floor, her eyes wide with terror. Sofia realized that she was covered in blood and made her way towards the kitchen. She grabbed a rag and rubbed off the blood the best she could. As she was in the process of removing the blood, she felt tiny hands curl around her back. She shifted gingerly to see Pricilla clinging to her; she could feel the tears gently roll down her back. She lowered her head and pressed the tiny girl closer to her, whispering soothing words of reassurance. It took the child a few minutes to calm down.

* * *

><p>"Now listen Pricilla, I need to go outside. I want you to STAY here understand?" Sofia said gently with a stern undertone. The child looked up and met the rattlers eyes; she noticed that they had gone back to their normal form. This made her feel safer, and she gave a small nod.<p>

"Good girl, now come on. I want you to stay in the shop. Behind the counter, don't let _anyone_ see you." Sofia said as the two raced down the stairs and into the shop via the back entrance. As the made it to the door Pricilla took hold of Sofia's tail jerking it towards her.

"Your promise you'll come back?"

"Of course I'll come back silly," Sofia chuckled and plated a feather light kiss on the worried child's brow before rushing out into the street.

* * *

><p>The whole town was in a panic; people were running everywhere trying to escape the hawks. As soon as Sofia leapt from the shadows hawks surrounded her. She curled up into a striking pose and hissed savagely at the birds, bobbing her head and striking. Each time gently gazing the hawks legs and depositing a minuscule drop of poison, but that's all she needed to do. Soon the hawks were getting dizzy, some had already decided it was time to retreat and fight some other critter that wasn't so aggressive.<p>

"BANG"

The sound of a gunshot caused everyone to pause. The hawks stopped what they were doing and flew towards the center of the town. The people looked on in fear and curiosity, in the middle of the town was a giant hawk dressed in military clothing. His feathers were a light grey, his beak was a stunning yellow and his eyes were sliver. He carried a gun on his left side and a long sword on his right, his uniform was black and silver, and it covered his entire torso. He took several steps forward before halting in front of Sofia.

"It's been a while my desert flower. You've grown even more beautiful since last I saw you." His gruff voice made Sofia's scales crawl; she slowly raised her eyes to finally put a face to the voice that haunted her dreams.

"You…" She breathed out in horror as her brown eyes met his silver ones; he let out a small chuckle to her reaction.

"You remember me, I'm so touched." He said as he lifted his wing to his heart. He turned away from her.

"What the hell do you want?" Sofia barked out, the hawk looked over his shoulder and gave her a sharp glance.

"So glad you asked, I'm simply here to claim what is mine," he said with a sigh. The towns people muttered to themselves exchanging worried glances.

"**Nothing** in this town belongs to you!" Sofia barked again and let out a bloodcurdling hiss. The hawk threw back his head and let out a huge laugh, slowly turning to face Sofia.

"Ah see that's where you're wrong my dear…the water in this town belongs to me. Ah sheriff Rango, how nice of you to join us," Sofia whipped her head around to see Rango being escorted by two hawks; she could see that he put up a heck of a fight. His shirt was torn and there were some bloodstains on his paints, the blood didn't belong to him though for there wasn't a single cut on his person.

"Who the hell are you?" Rango spat out as he jerked the two hawks off his arms.

" Yes forgive my rudeness, my name is General Ferruginous and I'm the one responsible for this towns water supply." A smirk formed on the general's face as he light a cigar.

"I do believe yer mistaken. These pipes come belong—"

"To me, did you not notice the stamp on each one of the pipes? It looks like this," the general reached into his breast pocket and handed a folded piece of paper to Rango. Rango gently opened the paper, his fingers trembling and his eyes widening in disbelief.

"You recognize the stamp,"

"I do…" Rango breathed out and handed the paper back to the general.

"I'm sure you do, I even had my man double check for me… in fact I'll let you meet him…" the general swung his arm outwards ushering forth a figure from the shadows of the ally way. As the figure approached the towns peoples eyes widened in disbelief, whispers and screams of outrage filled the air.

"Jake," Rango breathed out.

"No," Sofia said in a whisper.

"You see I had Jake here come and inspect your towns pipes, knowing full well that they belonged to me. I was going to wait until after you repaired them to take back what is mine, but something came up. So I sent Jake here to help you fix the pipes and then run all of you out of town." The general had his wind on Jakes shoulder as he spoke, Rango and Sofia stood there in utter shock. Jake's face was concealed by his hat but he could feel the anger and horror radiating from Rango, Sofia and the towns people.

"So it was all a lie," Sofia breathed out as she slowly approached Jake. The guards moved in to capture her but were waved off by the general.

"Yes,"

"Everything you said, a-and everything you did…all of it a lie?" Sofia was now right in front of Jake her eyes brimming with bright tears. Jake wanted to look up and explain, but he couldn't face her right now. The general rolled his eyes and looked down at the female.

"Yes, honestly how many times do w—"

" I aint talking to ye BRID BRAIN! Am talkin' te Jake so shut yer trap afor I shut it fer ya!"

"Uh-oh" Waffles turned to Wounded Bird; the two had been in the front of the crowd the entire time.

"Sofia using bad English…not good,"

"Well aint ya gonna say anything?" Sofia tilted Jakes head up with her tail and gave him a glare that could freeze the entire west.

"I'm so—"

"NOT sorry! Explain yer self! Why in the world would ye collaborate with this 'ere varmint?"

"It's complicated…"

"Don't use that guy excuse!" Sofia hollered, which made Jake rear up in anger.  
>"Well excuse me miss babysitter, but last I checked I don't haveta answer ta you!"<p>

"Oh yes ye do! You've got a shit load of explain' ta do, and we can start with that bloody kiss in the desert! Was that ta sweeten me up so I wouldn't figure out yer plan?" Jakes face went beet red.

"C-c-can we talk about that some other time?"

"No!"

"Look Sof—"

"Was that a lie too?"

"No…"  
>"Then why didja 'magically' forget about it?"<p>

"Cause…ya know…"

"If I knew then I wouldn't be 'ere talkin' te ya right now!"

"Honestly woman…"

"Don't you 'honestly woman' me!" Sofia pushed her nose against Jakes and gave another icy glare. The general cleared his throat, causing both Sofia and Jake to turn their heads towards him.

"Uh…excuse me? I hate to interrupt this couples spat but—"

" We aint a couple!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Cause this moron is too dumb to make a move!" Sofia turned back to Jake and lightly poked him in the chest with her tail.

"Look who's talkin'! Yer to uptight te show any sort of affection!" Jake pushed his chest up against hers so that his face was above hers.

"I've been waiting fer ye since we were teenagers you stupid, sorry excuse of a sea slug!" Sofia bellowed out, causing some of the towns folk and hawks to jump.

"Well how in the hell was I supposed ta know! Ye don't exactly make broadcast yer emotions!"

"Oh I'm sorry would you like me to write you a royal invitation? And while I'm at it I might as well set out tea and crumpets for his dumbness!" Jakes eye began to twitch.

" You make me so-so…"

"Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to wait around fer this moron to confess his feelings?" Sofia shouted to general who looked on in utter astonishment.

"Uh…" the general shrugged.

"It's bloody fucking frustrating! I mean its not like yer an expert at hidin' yer emotions or anything, I can see them as plain as day on yer face…" Sofia moves in closer to Jake, she could see the blush deepen around his cheeks, "but still you DON'T make a move!" She turned around and then turned back to him with another angry glare. He gave her one back just as bad.

"And what's stopping you?" Jake hollered back savagely.

"It's the guys job to confess you retard!" Sofia came slithering up right up to his face, her eyes filled with anger.

"No it aint"

"Yes it is"

"No it aint"

"Yes it is"

"This is better then cable!" Waffles whispered to Wounded Bird as he munched on a box of what looked like popcorn.

"Where you get popcorn?" The crow questioned the lizard.

"Ye don't wanna know,"

"No it aint"

"Ask any guy!" Jake whipped his head around and looked at Rango.

"Sheriff is what she says true?" Rango looked on in amazement.

"Uh…yes?" he blurted out.

"Ha told ya," Sofia said triumphantly Jake turned around to her with a pout beginning to set in on his lips.

"Know it all,"

"Sea slug,"

"Half pint,"

"Buck fang!"

"BANG"

"ALRIGHT that enough!" The General shouted as he lowered his gun from the air and placed it back in his holder. He turned to the two guards at his right,

"Take the Sheriff, and the loudmouthed one with us,"

"Yes general," the two soldiers saluted and quickly grabbed Rango and Sofia.

"Get yer claws off me ye lilly-livered pieces of vulture dung—" a piece of fabric was tightly wrapped over Sofia's mouth by one of the guards the general sighed with relief.

"Ahhh, that's better. Citizens of 'Dirt' if you ever want to see these two again then you _will_ cut off the water! This map will show you where you need to go to shut off the valve. If it is not shut off by noon tomorrow then they both die! If anyone follows us they will die!" The general threw the piece of paper down to the ground as he flapped his wings and flew off into the sun. The other hawks began to take off as well, Jake got on the back of one of the guards who was transporting Rango and Sofia. The towns people looked up helplessly as their friends were being carried off into the sky.


	10. Chapter 10

**One more chapter to go XD Thank you all so much for your support and wonderful comments on my first fanfic :D Love you all :3**

* * *

><p>Early morning gave way to late evening as the flock finally reached the fort; the general had taken the long route ensuring that no one would follow. They touched down on its metal surface and relaxed their aching joints. It had been a long and ruthless fly, the general had them maneuver through tight cervices and fly over gigantic rock formations all in the hope of deterring any followers. Now that they were home they could take well needed and wanted showers, eat and probably relax before it was their turn on guard duty.<p>

"Did anyone follow us?" The general questioned his second in command.

"No General,"

"Excellent." The general gave a small smile and proceeded down the metal spiral staircase. Sofia and Rango were lifted roughly off of the back of the hawks that carried them and shoved towards the staircase. They were taken to the holding cells at the bottom of the compound. The cells themselves weren't as bad as they expected. The brickwork was obviously new and the floors had been swept out recently, there was a small table at the far right of each cell with a tiny wooden chair. Sofia positioned herself near the far left of the cell door so that she was closer to Rango's cell.

"General says am to keep an eye on these two, you're relieved solider," Jake said in a stern voice and the solider saluted him and left. Jake waited a few minutes before he turned to Sofia and looked her in the eye.

"Just what the hell were you thinkin'? You could have gotten yer self killed!" Jake barked out, Sofia simply turned her head so that he was facing her back. This frustrated him even more.

"Oh so NOW you decided ta be quite!" He barked out again and waited for her to respond. Nothing. Jake promptly tuned around and headed for the large metal doors that lead into the hallway.

"Why?" A tiny voice caused him to stop just as he reached the door he gave an inquisitive glance towards Sofia's cell, but still only saw the back of her head.

"Why what?"

"Why did you leave?" Jake could feel his chest tighten he knew what she meant. She wanted to know why he left Hisspen Gulch, he was going to have to tell her the truth, and that frightened him.

"…I had too…you know that." He said in a gruff voice as he reached for the metal doors a second time.

"No I don't!" Jake released the doors and looked over his shoulder, she was facing him now the tears had just started to well up in her eyes, "I-I…I want to know the truth…please Jacob…" she whispered as he slowly approached the cell door and rested his head on the bars.

"Ok…I'll tell you…"he took a deep breath, he could feel her press her head against the same bars his head was on. He took another breath before he continued.

"Remember how the town had gone into a drought?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Well I went ta try and fix it…" _'I know…you always tried to help out whenever you could,'_ she though softly as she listened to his deep voice, it made the bars rumble which made her smile.

"Remember the old canyon where we used ta play as kids…well that's where I found this giant metal statue. Course now I know it's a water main, but as a kid I didn't know what the hell it was. All it had was a handle and writing on it, 'ON' and 'OFF'. The handle was on 'OFF', so I thought 'what the hell just pull the handle to 'ON''. When I did though it…well broke off. I got scared so I hurried back home and hid the stupid thing in ma dads tool shed. The next day I went back to try and fix the darn thing but I was ambushed by his men…they questioned me…" he drew his breath in harshly remembering how they beat the information out of him.

"I was only a teenager at the time…I was weak…and foolish…but mainly foolish ta believe anything that blasted hawk said! He said if I didn't get his handle back that he would kill me, I panicked and told him this I would get it for him right away. He told me that he didn't believe me, so I told him that I would take him ta town and show him where I hid it. He agreed but I had asked him not to hurt one snake…"

"Who was the snake," Sofia leaned in closer so that her nose was touching his, he let out a ragged breath and lifted his head to look at her in the eyes.

"…You…"her eyes widened and she looked at him closer.

"…Jake…" she shock her head in confusion.

"I pleaded with him that night, I sold myself to him so that…so that you could go free…"

"You are the boy in my dreams, I saw what he did…Jake wh-why?"

"Sofia I-I—"

"How zentamental…zo touching non," a sultry French voice echoed through the room causing both rattlers to look at the door.

"Angelique," the three said in amazement.

"You zeem surprised Sofia…" the fox chuckled as she descended the steps gingerly and waltzed over the rattler's cell, blowing a puff of grey smoke in her face. Sofia merely blinked it off and gave the fox a harsh glance.

"To be honest…no I'm not zurprised to see jou." She mimicked the foxes accent and turned her attention back to Jake.

"Ze Général he wants you to join him for dinner…you have to wear thiz," she passed her a silver gown through the bars of the cell. Sofia eyed the gown once and handed it back.

"The hell I am," she said matter-of- facilely, the fox cocked her pencil eyebrow and pushed the gown back towards the rattler.

"Ze Général doesn't _like_ to be dizapointed…"she said in a harsh tone.

"Go, maybe you can figure out his plan," Rango whispered to Sofia through the bars.

"You sure you're going to be fine sheriff" she gave him a worried glance. Rango simply smiled up at her and stuck out thumb.

"I've been in tougher situations then this one, I'll be just fine," he said as she left her cell and followed the fox through the metal doors into the dark hallway.

* * *

><p>The general's office had been transformed into a dinning room. There were silk drapes that adorned the walls; lovely carpets were placed to the floor and a giant oak dinning room table, complete with chairs, was in the center of the room. Soft candlelight illuminated the room bathing everything in a glow of gold. The general was dressed in his best suite, a black jacket with a gold finish and silver buttons. His talons were decorated with delicate engraved metal, and his beak was sharpened to a point.<p>

In his wing he held a gold pocket watch, which had belonged to his father, he looked at it annoyingly at the time ticket on. _'Where the hell is she?'_ He snapped the watch shut and shoved it into his breast pocket. There was a quick rap on the door,

"Enter," he said in a frustrated tone and turned towards to portal only to catch his breath. There in the doorway stood Sofia, she was wearing the sleeveless silver dress he had offered her. Tiny diamonds spiraled out from around her eyes, making them pop. There was a think lace ribbon that tied gently around her neck, and on the side of her head was a white cactus flower. Silver rings adorned her tail each with a tiny gem in the center. The soft candlelight made her look as if she was glowing as she glided slowly into the room.

"You…look…breathtaking…" the general sighed as he stepped closer to her to get a better look.

"Thank you general," she said coolly as she made her way past him and towards the table.

"Please call me Mark," he swerved to block her path and placed tilted her head upwards towards him.

"Sorry, but I prefer we keep this…relationship…formal, general," Sofia crisply said as she lifted her head out of his gentle grasp and took her seat at the table.

"As you wish," the general responded with a tiny chuckle and sat at the head of the table. Another rap and the door gently opened to let in another guest.

"Ah Jake, so good of you to join us," Sofia's head lifted almost automatically and turned towards the door. Jake was wearing a buttoned up white jacket with a red handkerchief in the breast pocket; around his waist was a bright red cummerbund, and on his head was his trademark hat. Sofia could feel her heart begin to race, his eyes were glistening in the soft light, and it made his facial features softer and more masculine. Jake turned his head in the direction of the general but stopped as he saw Sofia. His eyes widened and a soft touch of pink began to stain his cheeks as well as hers. They looked at each other in silence; it filled the air with passion and desire.

"Excuse me…Jake, are you here?" The general questioned, causing the two to break their stair. The general grumbled to himself cursing the fact that he had invited the rattler to dinner.

"Oh…uh… ya…sorry it's ma pleasure to join you sir," _'it ma damn pleasure…hell I forgotten how nicely she cleans up...'_ Jake made his way around the table sitting opposite Sofia. The general clapped his wings causing two white doves to appear with a platter of soup. Once the soup was served the general turned his attention towards Sofia.

"You are probably wondering why I summoned you here?" He said huskily as he bent closer towards her. Sofia gave him a sideways glare and lifted the spoon to her lips sipped the soup gingerly.

"The though had crossed my mind general," she crisply said and went back to sipping her soup. The general cleared his throat and pressed on.

"Well if you must know, I simply hate doing business under horrid conditions,"

"You don't say," she raised her eyebrows in surprise and continued to eat her soup. Jake lowered his hat trying to hide the smile that had worked its way across his mouth. The general tapped his spoon on the side of his bowl in frustration he was getting nowhere fast. There was another knock at the door,

"I wonder who that could be," the general said playfully causing Sofia to roll her eyes and give him an unimpressed look. The door swung open and Rango walked in briskly, he was wearing his formal sheriff's uniform.

"Ah sheriff so glad you could make it to our little party, please take a seat." The general gestured to the free seat next to Sofia, clapped his wings and had the soup given to Rango.

"What's the occasion?" Rango questioned as he began to eat his soup.

"Business my good sir. You are familiar with the pervious mayor of Dirt?"

"I knew him," Rango said bitterly looking down at his soup.

"Of course, well you see he was working for me, he was my…realtor. See your town sits on prime real estate, only a days journey from the highway via pig, bat, wagon whatever."

"Your point?"

"I whish to buy it of course." Rango and Sofia stopped eating and turned their heads towards the general.

"Sorry, but we aint interested in selling," Rango said crisply.

" What does this have to do with your pipeline?" Sofia squinted in the hawk's direction, giving him a deadly glare.

"Ah yes, thank you for reminding me my dear—"

"I aint yer dear," Sofia growled out.

"See sheriff, those pipes belong to me and I can easily shut them off at the twist of a leaver. Deriving your town of water…again…causing everyone to leave. But I hate getting my wings dirty," _'could have fooled me'_ Sofia though savagely as she pushed her empty bowl away. "When I don't have to. So I have a proposition for you."

"I see,"

"I will _not_ shutoff the water_ if_ you sell Dirt to me. The people will be allowed to stay in the town of course, but they would have to work for me. Helping me rebuild, or rather complete, what the mayor was doing."

"That's blackmail!" Sofia hissed out.

"That's business my dear, as for you…I have a special proposition for you."

"I'm not interested!"

"Oh but I think you should hear me out," with a flick of his right wing a small pistol came jutting out pointing between Jake's eyes.

"No!"

"Then listen to what I have to say," Sofia nodded.

"I want you to stay here and become my…'personal assistant'."

"And if I don't refuse?" the general clicked the gun and gave her a tiny smirk.

"I don't think that's a wise decision."

"Don't do it!" Jake said harshly, he looked at her with beggar's eyes. She gave him a loving smile then turned to the general.

"I accept," she said with a plain face.

"Excellent, and might I say you look ravishing in that dress tonight," the general had gotten up out of his chair and was leaning in towards her.

"And you look simply…devilish in that suite," Sofia smiled sweetly up at him as he came even closer to her.

"I think I'm going to like having you here," he breathed as he retracted his gun and brought his right arm around her back. Sofia leaned in closer so that her mouth was against his ear,

"Don't get used to the idea," she whispered as she open her mouth and bit down hard on his shoulder. The general flew back on the floor with Sofia still attached to him. He pushed her off causing her to fly across the room into the wall. She looked up at him with a confused expression, _'the poison should have taken effect by now!'_ she though quickly.

"Silly chit! I'm immune to rattler poison!" He reached for his gun on his left side; the sound of a gun clicking drew his attention for a mere second. He looked up to find Jake's gun pointed at him.

"But yer not immune ta bullets!" Jake laughed darkly and fired his gun hitting the general.

"Argh!" the general screamed out as he fell against the wall clutching his left wing. Jake jumped across the table and helping up Sofia the quickly headed out the door with Rango right behind him.

"Did you kill him?"

"No idea, run!" Jake yelled back as they ran down the hall.

"But—"

"No I agree with Jake on this, run!" Rango pointed ahead of him.

* * *

><p>The three soon came upon a vent in the floor, large enough to fit a rattler though. Jake quickly removed the grill and placed gently on the wall.<p>

"This should take you two outside the fort."

"Your not coming!" Sofia looked up at him in alarm.

"I have to hold them off!"

"Then I'm gonna stay and help you! We legends have to stick together." Rango nudged him with his elbow.

"You don't have yer gun, and last I checked the legend said you stopped outlaws with 'one' bullet…" Jake reminded him.

"Jake you have to come with us!" Sofia tugged on his jacket with her tail; Jake turned and gave her a stern look.

"If I go they will follow you! Somebody needs to stay behind and put the grill back on!"

"I'm not leaving you behind again!" Jake could hear the footsteps getting louder; he turned to Rango and gestured to the open vent.

"Go now!"

"Good luck," Rango patted Jake's shoulder and jumped down the vent. Sofia turned around to follow him but was tuned around and pulled up against Jake's body.

"God you look beautiful tonight!" he sighed out before he pulled her against his lips and kissed her. It wasn't the gentle kiss he had given her in the desert, this one was a hard kiss. It made her weak in the rattle; she kissed him back just as hard. He broke the kiss as quickly as he started it.

"I've always wanted te do that te ya, ever since we were teenagers. I love you…sorry it took so long to say…now go!" He pushed her towards down the vent,

"Jake!" she cried out as she went shooting down the dark tunnel. Jake quickly placed the grill back on the vent and armed his gun, then he turned back to see a huge mod of hawks ready to attack. He tiled his hat slightly to show off his left eye, and the dark smile that had formed on his face.

"Now how many of you want te leak lead tonight?" He hollered out savagely as he began to shoot at the massive horde of hawks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Here it is! The final chapter :D (sorry about the delay,) just want to thank everyone again for their lovely comments :3 I hope you enjoy this last chapter ;)**

**Skateboard out **

The desert night was cold; the wind blew harshly picking up sand and throwing it violently. The dress Sofia was wearing did little to shelter her from the wind and sand. The once flowing white gown was nothing more then a piece of cloth. She had torn most of it when she was sliding down the air vent, and rushing over the rough rocks that made up the forts entrance. She honestly couldn't care less about the dress; it had been a gift from that rotten general.

Her eyes were filled with bright silver tears, _'I can't just leave him…we have to go back…now!'_ she turned her gaze upwards to the sky. The starts shone brightly in the velvet night, the desert sky always clamed her, but tonight it made her miss him even more. _'I wonder if he can see the sky tonight? Shit…I hope he's safe…'_ finally she let the tears flow smoothly down her face.

"Shhhh…it'll be alright…" Rango places a caring hand on her shoulder; Sofia couldn't help but bend her head down and lay it gently on his shoulder. He wrapped his hands around her neck.

"It's ok to cry Sof…just let it all out…" Rango whispered gently to her as she her tears began falling harder and harder.

"Oh Rango 'sniff' I want him here…we have to go back! Please! I can't lose him again,"

"We'll go back but we need a plan," Rango said as he continued to pat her neck. _'God I hope he's safe!'_ she looked up at the sky and sent out a silent prayer.

"Wait…you hear that? Sounds like roadrunners," Rango gently eased Sofia off his shoulder and put his ear to the ground.

"1…2…3 maybe 4 birds, what do you see," he asked anxiously. Sofia rubbed her eyes and peered into the night

"Can't see anything, the sand is whirling around so much that its all a blur. Also, it doesn't help that my eyes are swollen from crying like a five-year-old, but…I do taste something,"

"What is it?"

"Hmm…defiantly four birds, three riders though, none showered for at least six months…maybe longer…all are armed…one has a familiar sent but I just can't put my rattler on it," she flicked her tongue out again. Rango reached for his gun but found his holster empty, _'damn, forgot they took it away when we got to the base,'_ he reminded himself bitterly as he looped his thumb through his belt. The footsteps were getting louder, Sofia looked down at Rango waiting for his instructions.

"We'll hold our own, and who knows…they might be friendly,"

"Sheriff… have you _ever_ come across friendly people riding in the desert in the middle of the night?"

"Uh…"

"We're dead…"

"Now look here there is a very high possibility that they are not gonna kill us,"

"And if they, oh I dunno, are _not_ friendly and decided that they would like a pair of snake skin boots coupled with a chameleon saddle then what are we to do?"

"Still working on that," Sofia closed her eyes tightly, _'Find your happy place, find your happy place…'_

"Sheriff…sheriff Rango!" Both Rango and Sofia peered into the blackness,

"What in tarnation…"Rango placed his hand over his forehead

"Is that?… no it can't be…" Sofia whispered down to Rango.

"…Waffles! Wounded Bird…Doc…and Spoons!"" They both said in astonishment and began to run towards the voice in the distance.

"Howdy sheriff, Sofia," Waffles said with a huge grin on his face as he steadied his roadrunner.

"How in the world didja find us?" Rango smiled and helped Waffles off his roadrunner.

"Don't look at me, Wounded Bird 'ere did all the tracking," Waffles motioned towards the raven as he descended his bird.

"I see you did some of yer native magic in order to find us," Rango patted Wounded bird's back. Wounded Bird rolled his eyes and pulled out a small, black box and handed it to Rango.

"No…I stuck small tracker on snake's tail…followed signal using screen,"

"Oh…how'd you acquire this?" Rango looked closer at the small box, it had a tiny screen in the center.

"EBay…"

"Wounded Bird does is the tracker still working?" Sofia questioned the raven, Wounded Bird gave her a simple nod before taking the tracker back from Rango and placing it in her coils.

"Then I can use it to find Jake!"

"Oh no, it too dangerous fer a…" Rango said shaking his head and placing his hands in his hips.

"Girl," Sofia gave Rango a sideways stare, and let out a small chuckle,

"It's the perfect plan! No one will be expecting me to go back and rescue him, I'll have the element of surprise on my side!" Sofia gave Rango another flashy smile. The chameleon rubbed the back of his neck and shock his head softly.

"Well…"

"Please sheriff…I-I love him…" Sofia bent her head down to Rango's level, her eyes pleading with the lizard.

" 'sniff' its just like on 'Oprah'," Waffles sniffed out as he whipped away his tears and dried his hand on Wounded Birds poncho.

"If yer so keen on goin' back, then ye might want te take a few things with ye," Doc said as he handed Sofia a large satchel.

"And take these, their ma lucky pair," Spoons happily said as he pulled out a pair of old socks from his back pocket, "Ain't never washed em'!" He said with a smile as he placed the putrid socks on her tail.

"Oh wow Spoons that's so…so..."

"Unsanitary," Waffles said as he held his hand to his nose.

"Well if ye don't want 'em…I guess I'll take 'em back!" Spoons said in a huff as he took back the socks and put them back in his pocket. Sofia gave him a thankful smile nonetheless, and artfully whipped off her tail on the soft sand.

"Now if anythin' goes wrong you get out of there ya here? We'll be right behind ye all the way…well sorta…we got some busyness te attend te first, but don't you worry we'll be there faster then ye can spit." Rango gave placed an encouraging hand on her back.

"Thank you," Sofia turned to the group and gave them a loving smile before husing off in the opposite direction.

"Good luck girly," Rango whispered into the night as he mounted his roadrunner and ran off towards the east.

'_God I hope I'm not too late!'_ Sofia whispered to herself as she flew across the sands towards the fort.

* * *

><p>"Stop," a husky voice spat out causing the gopher to cease his punching. The mammal backed away rubbing his hands lightly. It had been a full ten minutes into the interrogation and already his hands were sore; the gopher frowned at his own weakness. The general pushed past the gopher and strolled up towards the restrained reptile. Jakes neck and tail had been anchored to the wall with rusty handcuffs; the general grasped the rattlers head between his feathers lifting it harshly upwards. His left wing was in a sling; it still stung from early on in the evening.<p>

"Had enough yet?" he chuckled out; Jake gave the general an ice shilling glare before spitting in his face. The general took his free wing and gingerly removed the wad of saliva that was now caught in his feathers.

"You insubordinate moron! I'll teach you respect yet!" He growled out as he balled his wing into a tight fist and struck Jake on the side of the mouth.

"Again!"

* * *

><p>'<em>That is it! Once this is over I'm going on a bloody diet! Good lord! Were these pipes always this thick?'<em> Sofia though frustratingly as she inched her way up the air duct. The cold metal made the climb very uncomfortable, she found herself stopping every few minutes in order to readjust her coils in a more comfortable manner.

'_I can smell freedom!'_ She though happily as she came upon the entrance to the duct, _'freedom needs to take a fucking shower though! Jeez haven't these guys ever heard of the term 'deodorant'?'_ She crinkled her face as the smell came wafting up her nostrils. The odor almost made her gage, in front of the vent were two very putrid guards, neither of which were aware of her presents.

"Man this stinks! Can't believe we go guard duty…"

"Oh shut up, would you rather be in the interrogation room with the general?"

"…You have a point,"

'_Interrogation room…Oh my God…Jake!'_ She could feel her heart sink to her tail; quickly she began to look around for another way out of the vent.

"Hey wanna grab some food?"

"Sure," the younger guard said with a blank expression as they proceeded down the hallway towards the cafeteria. Sofia pushed the vent open and quickly slithered out, as soon as they were out of sight, making her way to a dark corner.

'_Ok now I just need to get the tracker out of my bag…wait a minute…why is my bag breathing?'_ Sofia carefully opened the large satchel and peered inside.

"For the love of fuck! Pricilla the hell are you doing in my satchel?" Sofia whispered out harshly as the small girl.

"I came help!" Pricilla whispered back in the same tone.

"Oh and how exactly are _you _gonna help me?"

"Uh with these…duh!" She smirked as she pulled out her dual pistols from the bag. Sofia merely cocked a scale and let out a harsh sigh.

"Fine, fine you can help… but I swear if you slow me down I'll shove you down the first air vent I see, got it!"

"Yes ma'am," Pricilla said as she gave Sofia a sweet smile, the rattler tiled her head up and looked at the ceiling.

"Why are you testing me?"

"Who are ye talkin' too?"

"A very unreliable friend…now come on we got work to do…"

* * *

><p>"You're a tough one Jake, I'll give you that!" The general said in a mildly amused tome as the gopher kept on punching Jake's upper body.<p>

"Stop," the general lifted his wing slightly, the gopher gave a quick nod and backed away from the snake. The general took several steps towards Jake, assessing the damage.

Jake's left eye was completely swollen, his upper lip had a deep cut, and he was missing a few teeth on the right side. The general's gaze wondered down and settled on the rattlers upper body. Jake's chest was riddled with bruises, each one the size of an apple and had begun to turn a sickly yellow-green. Through the bruises he could see what was really causing all of the pain, there were five broken ribs.

"You know we can always stop this…all _you_ have to do is tell me where **she** is," the general whispered smoothly in Jake's ear. The rattler lifted his head slightly and let out a harsh chuckle.

"Ain't gonna happen," he wheezed out. The general balled his wing into a tight fist and slammed it into Jake's nose. The rattler let out a small grunt as the hawks fist collided with his nose.

"Is that all ya got?" Jake smugly said as he lifted his head and giving the hawk a small smirk. The hawk made another fist and slammed it into Jake's ribcage, drawing a muffled growl from the serpent's lips.

"She _will_ be MINE!" he said savagely as he grabbed the rattlers face in his wing and forced it upwards.

"She…will…n-never…be…yours!" Jake huffed out and drew in a sharp breath.

"What!" The general growled out as he smashed Jake's head against the brick wall of the cell.

"Sh-she ain't one ta be owned…ye gotta respect her…show 'er kindness…ya gotta love 'er, or else yer in fer a world of hurt. Sofia's just like the desert, hot and merciless…but if ye treat 'er with the respect she deserves…well she'll bloom like a desert flower… you will NEVER HAVE HER!" Jake spat out in a dark chuckle causing the general to let out a roar of furry.

"Again! This time aim only for the ribs…she will be mine!"

* * *

><p>"We're lost," Pricilla said blankly as they scurried through the dark corridor.<p>

"We are not lost! I know exactly where we ar—…ok…we're lost…" Sofia said grimly as they came upon a dead end.

"Can I see that?" Pricilla said as she plucked the small box from Sofia's coils.

"Uh…yer holdin' it upside down," the young girl pointed out gloomily.

"…oops…"

"By the way, what _is_ the plan when we do find Jake…how are we gonna get him outta 'ere?"

"Still working on that," Pricilla slapped her face with the palm of her hand and shook her head slowly.

"What? I'm making this up as I go…wait…you hear that?" Both of them turned their head slightly listening carefully to the corridor. The sound of faint footsteps could be heard in the distance, Pricilla turned wide-eyed to Sofia.

"Some ones coming…" Pricilla's voice shook, as the footsteps got louder.

"Do we have any weapons, besides the guns, in that bag?" Sofia whispered to the small girl. Pricilla quickly began rooting around in the large satchel.

"I found these," she pulled out a large pair of wooden spoons.

"Spoons? What the hell I'm I supposed to do…stir them to death?"

"I don't know, yer the one the plan. I'm Tonto and yer the lone ranger."

"Thanks kid…" Sofia looked down at the pair of spoons then looked over to Pricilla, "Ok I've got a plan…"

* * *

><p>"I don't like this plan!"<p>

"Just go with it Pricilla, it'll work!"

"Ye sure?"

'_No'_ "Yes," Sofia gave her an encouraging smile.

"Ok here I go…um…excuse me…Mr. Solider, I need yer help," Pricilla called out from the dark corridor. The hawk turned around fast, his gun already aimed to fire.

"Who goes there?" He shouted out harshly.

"Uh…"

"Corporal Smith," Sofia whispered to the girl,

"Corporal Smith," Pricilla repeated quickly, "I just transferred here,"

"Never heard of yeh,"

"Well duh, I just go here feather head,"

"What'd you call me?"

"Great yer deaf _and_ dumb,"

"Why you lil—" 'BAM' Sofia came up behind the hawk and struck him over the head with one of the wooden spoons, he feel to the floor motionless.

"What the hell was that?" Sofia turned to Pricilla with a angry-confused expression plastered on her face.

"It's called 'improvisation'…Rango taught it te me,"

"Of course he did," Sofia sighed as she rubbed her eyes with her tail.

"Now what?" Pricilla poked the hawk with one of the wooden spoons. Sofia took the spoon from her and quickly placed it back in the bag.

"Now we put on his clothes,"

"Ye mean…"

"Yup, start stripping Tonto,"

* * *

><p>"Gahh!" Jake cried out.<p>

"Enough…" the hawk removed the cigarette from the rattlers flesh and placed it on a small metal plate. Jake was now gasping for breath, wincing at the smell of his burnt flesh. Suddenly the metal door swung open, causing light to flood the room, burning his eyes.

"What is it?" The general barked out towards the door.

"General you must come to right now, its important!"

"I'm busy—"

"Sir, its about the female rattler…we've found her," the general lifted his head and peered over his shoulder to the solider standing in the door way.

"I'm on my way…men lets go…you watch the prisoner," the general snapped at the young solider standing in the doorway. He gave the general a quick salute, and watched carefully as the room emptied, he then proceeded to close the door behind him.

"Their gone…you can get down now," Sofia winced from underneath the long trench coat.

"I kinda like it up 'ere" Pricilla said in a cheery voice as she flung the coat off her and Sofia, and slid down the rattlers back. Sofia then turned her attention to Jake, who had passed out due to the sudden burst of light.

"Jake!" Sofia rushed over to him, but as she got closer she began to realize how much suffering he had endured.

There were cuts and bruises layered on top of one another, they began around his face and stopped just above his lower body. She could see the burn marks that were running up and down his back, she winced at the though of his being burned.

"Jake…Jacob…baby…wake up…please," she gently cooed as she brought her head underneath his neck and gently pushed upwards. He opened his right eye slowly,

"Sofia?" He whispered in a raspy voice.

"I'm right here," she brought her head up for underneath his chin and looked him in the eyes.

"Oh my God Jake…what have they done to you?" She said in a raspy voice as her tail gently stroked his bruised face.

"This ain't nothin'…ye should see the other guy," he chuckled out as he tired to reach for her face, only to realize that his tail was also trapped.

"Hold on, we'll get you out of there…Pricilla hand me something the break these locks?"

"Wait…you brought along a ten year old te save me…well that just makes me feel like a gopher in soft dirt…" Jake said in a huff.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you prefer it if I were to bring along a big old burly man to help me?" Sofia responded sarcastically as she began to fiddle with the lock.

"I don't need yeh te resuce me…I have everything under control,"

"Oh I can see that,"  
>" Yer gonna ruin ma plan,"<p>

"Yer plan?"

"Yes ma plan!"

"And what does this plan consist of? You being strapped to a wall and beaten to death?"

"There's more to it then that! Besides I didn't ask ye te save me…"

"Since when did I need permission to save someone I loved?"

"…Look Rango and I have a pla—"

"Rango sent me te help you!"

"He did what now?"

"Technically you _did_ insist," Pricilla pointed out,

"Shut it," Sofia hissed,

"Look just go back afore you get caught, I've got everything under control!" Jake hissed out, Sofia took a slither back as she cocked a scale to him.

"Really, cause from where am slithering ye could use the help,"

"Ye ain't listening!"

"Oh I listen alright, ye just can't communicate correctly!"  
>"Oh <em>I'm<em> the one who can't communicate!"

"Uh…guys,"

"Not now Pricilla…Ya that's right Mr. I-can-everything-all-by-myself!"

"Yer such a child,"

"I'm the child!"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT?" Jake and Sofia tuned downwards and shouted at Pricilla.

"Oh nothing, I just though y'all like te know that the locks are undone," Pricilla rested her hands on her hips and gave both rattlers a agitated glare.

"Come one…lets get you down from there," Sofia let out a huff, dipping her head below Jakes upper body propping him up.

"…Thank you…" he whispered in her ear, she could feel a rush of blood enter her cheeks.

"Your welcome," she tuned her head slightly and gave him a heart warming smile. He felt his heart skip several beats.

"Sofia…I—" she lifted her head and placed a loving kiss on his cut lip.

"Shhh… don't push yer self. I promise I'll get you out of here," she whispered against his neck, she could feel his tail wrap around hers.

"How adorable," a familiar voice called out from the illuminated door way. Jake, Sofia and Pricilla snapped their heads up and looked on in horror, there in the door way stood the general.

"No…" Sofia breathed out,

"Yes…its so good to see you my dear," the general let out a dark chuckle and eyed her with passion.

"This ain't about her General! This is between you and me!" Jake hissed out as he wrapped part of his body around Sofia and Pricilla. The general threw back his head and let out a blood-curdling laugh.

"Oh how I _beg_ to differ Jacob…Guards seize them!" The general barked, the guards came rushing into the room, surrounding the trio. Both rattlers let out ferocious hisses, but that wasn't enough to deter the hawks as they began separating the group.

"Jake!" Sofia cried out as she and Pricilla were peeled from his protective grip and pushed into the arms of a hawk. Jake faugh savagely to get back to her, but he was overwhelmed by hawks.

"Hold him up, for heaven sakes someone get a hold of him!" One of the hawks screeched out.

"Hold him still!" The general barked out as he pulled out his gun from his side and aimed for Jakes head.

"No!" Sofia cried out and began to fight even harder against the hawk.

'BANG'

"Uhh…" Sofia coughed out before she it the floor. The bullet had ripped though her lower body, she could feel the blood begin to leave her body, emptying out onto the cold floor.

"Get a medic!" The general shouted out and several hawks went rushing out of the room.

"SOFIA!" Jake eased her onto this lower body, placing his upper tail on her wound trying to stop the blood from gushing out for her body.

"Come on now, ye can't die on me…hey, hey look at me…yer gonna be fine," Jakes voice was shaky as he tried to comfort her.

"J-Jake…"

"Am right 'ere,"

"Fuck…I don't wanna die…not now…"

"Yer not gonna die,"

"I mean… we didn't even have sex yet! How can I die before I've had sex? I've been waiting all my life to make love to you, and now I get shot… that just ain't fair!"

"Don't you worry lil' darlin' well have plenty of time fer…well ye know…"

"Don't have sex with my right now…am all bloody and yucky…" Sofia said sternly as she looked up at Jake.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Pricilla had managed to free herself from the hawk and was kneeling beside Jake, giving him a worried look.

"She'll be fine…she's just taking silly is all…"

"Fuck…remind me never to step in front of a moving piece of metal again…those things hurt!"

"I know…" Jake said in a soft chuckle as he continued to place pressure on her wound.

"Where the hell is that medic?" The general spat out.

"Right here, move please, outta ma way," the rabbit made his way though the crowd and knelt down beside Sofia.

"…Doc?" Sofia looked up confusingly; Doc gave her a small smile and placed his finger over his lips.

"Mums the word," he whispered as he gently took her off Jake's lap and began to treat her wound. Jake reared up and hissed savagely at the general, who was beginning to back up.

"Some one…stop him damn it!" The general cried out as Jake began to slither towards him. The general turned to run but was stopped by a gun that was being pushed into his lower abdomen.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Rango said harshly as he removed his disguise.

"You!"

"Surprised?" Rango let out a strong laugh and threw a spare gun to Jake.

"There ye go… this is between you and him… I suggest you finish it like men, ye hear?" Rango pushed the general into the center of the room.

"The rules are simple, each man take ten paces in a different direction…after ten you turn around and shoot, first one who falls to the ground dead loses!"

"I don't like this game," Sofia said groggily as Doc finished wrapping her wound.

"On my mark…begin…1…2…3…" Sofia felt tiny hands come up and grip her side, she pulled Pricilla closer to her and watched on as the general and Jake waked in opposite corners of the room.

"5…6…7…" _'Please Jake don't die,'_ Sofia gripped Pricilla tighter as Rango continued to count.

"8…9…10…TURN,"

'BANG!'

"Jake!"

* * *

><p><strong>2 months later<strong>

Rango and Beans strolled down the boardwalk towards the tailor shop. It had been two months since that faithful day and things were starting to fall back into place. The pipes had been fixed and the buildings resorted, Dirt once again looked like it used too. There were, however, some new changes, Beans have given birth to two healthy babies, a girl and a boy. They were the apples of their parent's eyes both were so perfect. The girl, Juliette, took after her father with her green and white skin and large eyes. She had chocolate brown hair that curled up neatly along the side of her face. Her brother, Tims, took after his mother with his light brown skin and almond eyes. His hair was a light shade of blond that fell messily around his forehead.

"Is anyone home?" Rango called out as the couple reached the tailor shop.

"Lets give them a minute, ok…shh… you don't want to wake the babies," Beans placed a caring hand on her husbands shoulder. Rango smiled and placed a light kiss on his wife lips and then looked down at his two beautiful children, placing a kiss on their foreheads.

"I'll give 'em a few more minutes," he said jokily to Beans.

* * *

><p>"Ow! Careful, that's tender," Jake winced as Sofia tightened his bandage.<p>

"Oh stop being such a baby…"

"How would you like it if someone was being ruff with you?" Jake hissed out and winced once more as Sofia pulled the bandage tighter.

"What do you want me to do? Kiss it better?"

"That would be a start…" Jake said softly and gave her a seductive smile. Sofia could feel her heart beating faster as she lowered her head and placed a light kiss on Jakes chest. He let out a low grown and pulled her onto the bed.

"W-wait…Jacob…w-we can't…we-we-we're expecting guests…" Sofia whispered through her gasps as Jake placed kisses all down the side of her neck.

"I can't wait any longer darlin'…I want you…" he stared into her large brown eyes, they were filled with passion, he gave her a wolfish grin and proceeded to place kisses all along her neck line.

"Oh…Jake…" she whispered huskily as he began to kiss her upper body.

"Sofia… you don't know how long I've waited for this…"

"Waited for what?" Pricilla looked up at the two rattlers from beside the bed.

"PRICILLA!" Sofia shouted as she accidentally pushed Jake off the bed.

'Bash'

"Ow…ma spine…" he said in pain.

"Oh geez, sorry honey…Pricilla what the hell are you doing up here?" Sofia turned her attention to the child.

"I just came up te tell you that everyone is waitin' downstairs,"

"Ok we'll be down in a second," Sofia sighed as the little girl ran out of the room and down the stairs.

"Now I know I'm forgetting something…"

"Ya… the man on yer floor," a weak voice said behind her causing Sofia to spin around and let out a small snicker.

"Sorry babe…" She gave him an apologetic look as she helped him up.

"Looks like we'll haveta finish off what he started later," he whispered in her ear. Sofia felt shivers of warmth sweep over her, she looked up at Jake giving him a passionate kiss.

"I look forwards to it," she smiled seductively and left the room. Jake stood there for a couple of minutes, letting the feeling fill him up. He then proceeded to follow Sofia down the stairs and into the shop, with a huge smile on his face.

**THE END :D**


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